Dad raises money for heartfelt cause
A DAD and a group of intrepid friends from Hendy have trekked 90 miles between Swansea and Bristol hospitals, raising more than £13,000 for a charity which supports his daughter.
Eighteen-month-old Esme from Hendy, was born with a congenital heart condition, which was discovered when he was 10 days old.
Last summer, she had open heart surgery and may need further treatment as she grows up.
Esme has AVSD – complete atrioventricular septal defect – a condition where there are holes between the chambers of the right and left sides of the heart, and valves controlling the blood flowing between them may not be formed correctly.
The surgery she underwent closed a hole between the chambers and formed a new valve.
Her dad, Mathew Mariani, who is a self-employed stonemason, completed the trek to raise money for the charity Heart Heroes, which has a hub in South Wales.
It provides support for children with congenital heart conditions, and their families.
Esme’s mum, Emily Bowen, 29, has just become the South Wales hub co-ordinator, running events and meet-ups for families, so they can help one another.
Mathew, 34, along with seven friends decided to walk from Swansea’s Singleton Hospital, where Esme was born, to Bristol Royal Infirmary, where she underwent her surgery.
It was a distance of 90 miles in total, which the group completed in 31 hours.
Mathew was joined by Jordan Thomas, Steve Pritchard, Ceiran James, Ben Batcup, Alex Williams, Christopher Morgans and Richard Toth.
They arrived in Bristol on the anniversary of Esme’s surgery and were backed by a support vehicle with snacks and supplies for the route – which took them over the old Severn Bridge.
They were encouraged along the way by videos sent to them from some of the Welsh national rugby team and there to cheer them at the end were Esme, and mum Emily.
Looking back at last year, Mathew said: “Esme was born on New Year’s Day and had only been home for five days when we noticed her breathing wasn’t right, so we took her into an out-of-hours clinic.
“They sent her straight to Morriston Hospital where she was put into the high dependency unit.
“There was even talk of airlifting her to Cardiff, because she wasn’t stabilising.
“Fortunately, they managed to get things under control and she was later moved to Cardiff. The whole of January last year was crazy, Emily and I were just passing each other as we took it in turns to be with Esme, because at the time there were Covid restrictions in place.
“The only time we were together at the hospital was for her diagnosis.
“Esme was in Cardiff for a couple of weeks, then back to Morriston again, so she was in hospital for about a month altogether.
“We heard about the charity when we were in Bristol and we met another hub co-ordinator, who was on the ward at the same time as us.
“We have found it really supportive, because unless you have gone through this experience yourself it’s hard for people to understand.”
Kelly Cornish, Heart Heroes founder, said she was very grateful to Mathew and his friends for their fundraising and added: “We rely on donations to run all our events and activities, and this is a significant amount for us.
“Not only that, Mathew and Emily, are helping to spread awareness of Heart Heroes so we can help more families like theirs.”