Family Thanks Sick Children’s Trust With Boxing Day Fundraiser

The family of a little boy who earlier this year underwent major surgery at just four weeks old are thanking The Sick Children’s Trust for keeping them by their baby’s side.

When their baby boy, Stevie, was just 25 days old, Anna Shepherd, 22 and Sam Railton, 26 from Crofton felt their world collapse when he was rushed to Sheffield Children’s Hospital for emergency surgery.

Stevie had been born perfectly healthy but during his first few weeks of life he was vomiting constantly. It was discovered that he has a condition where the muscle allowing food to pass from the stomach to the intestine had become enlarged and blocked. This meant Stevie couldn’t feed and was becoming dangerously ill. He had emergency surgery to widen the passage so that food could be digested, and for three days, Stevie remained on Sheffield Children’s Hospital’s neonatal surgical unit over an hour away from home.

Fortunately, during this time The Sick Children’s Trust supported his parents with free ‘Home from Home’ accommodation at Magnolia House, just minutes from Stevie’s bedside. To thank the charity for its support, the couple put The Sick Children’s Trust forward to benefit from the family’s Boxing Day fundraiser, the ‘Steven John Railton Memorial Game’. The fundraiser – which was begun in Sam’s brother’s memory following a fatal car accident – aims to help families in the local community. The match – which features football and rugby - will start at 11am at Crofton Community Centre. Anna, who works as a carer, says:

“It was really scary when we were told just how ill Stevie was and that he needed to be transferred so far away from home. Thankfully, we were able to be with him throughout his treatment because of The Sick Children’s Trust. The Sick Children’s Trust gave us free ‘Home from Home’ accommodation just minutes from Stevie’s hospital bedside at Magnolia House. Magnolia House was wonderful, it meant we didn’t have to travel two hours a day to be with our son, we didn’t have the financial burden of paying for petrol or hospital food, and we could actually get some rest ourselves.

“The reason that we are fundraising for The Sick Children’s Trust is not just because of the support they gave us, but because of the other families we met in Magnolia House with really poorly children. Some had been in there for weeks – and without this free ‘Home from Home’ accommodation they wouldn’t have been able to be there for their child.

“We only stayed for a short time in Magnolia House, we were really very lucky that Stevie made such a quick recovery. Stevie is now back home and doing really well. We are so looking forward to the Steven John Railton’s Memorial Game on Boxing Day to thank The Sick Children’s Trust for all its hard work.”

The Sick Children’s Trust runs three ‘Homes from Home’ in Yorkshire supporting hundreds of families who have seriously ill children in Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary. The memorial match, which kicks off at 11am on Boxing Day at Crofton Community Centre, will raise money for The Sick Children’s Trust along with the Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) charity. Ann Wyatt, The Sick Children’s Trust Magnolia House Manager, says:

“It means so much to us when families like Stevie’s go home and fundraise for us after benefitting from our care. It costs the charity £30 to support a family for one night in one of The Sick Children’s Trust’s ten ‘Homes from Home’ across the country. When a child is seriously ill it’s vital that they have their loved once close by, and our ‘Homes from Home’ mean families are just minutes from their child’s bedside.”

The Steven John Railton Memorial Game will be held at 11am on Boxing Day. Stevie’s family would love to see you there on the day.

For further information about The Sick Children’s Trust, please visit http://www.sickchildrenstrust.org/