A BROMSGROVE grandmother will undertake a daring abseil next weekend to raise funds for the hospital which saved her granddaughter’s life.
June Cross will be taking on the 120ft challenge at Wesleyan building in Colmore Circus next Saturday (September 17) to say a big thank you to the staff at Birmingham Children’s Hospital for all they have done for Esme Cross.
Esme was born with congenital heart problems and had to undergo her first major heart surgery at just 36 hours old.
Esme was not feeding properly at the time and had blue lips. The midwife who was looking after her recognised she had heart problems because her own son had suffered with the same thing.
It was then she was rushed to Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital to undergo open heart surgery.
She was later diagnosed with George Syndrome which means she is missing chromosone 22. That has led to her having the heart defects and learning difficulties and she has since undergone a second open heart operation – that was at ten months old.
She is now four and has just started school at Chadsgrove.
She will have to have further surgery but, provided all goes well, that will not be until she is ten or 11.
June said: “Without the amazing staff at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Esme would not be alive today.”
On the abseil she added: “I have never done anything like this before and am very nervous about it.
“But when I look at Esme and all she has been through those nerves disappear.”
June has set herself a fund-raising target of £500 and yesterday had £390 pledged on her JustGiving page.
Visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/June-Cross1 to sponsor June.
