Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Epic ride to remember ‘wonderful and caring little boy’
ACOUPLE from Taunton are today launching an epic fundraiser in memory of their three-year-old son who died suddenly after complaining of stomach ache.
Laura and Richard Chinn have organised a team of 17 people who are cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End in memory of Jude, who died 48 hours after mentioning his discomfort.
The challenge was due to begin today and will see them cycle 100 miles a day for nine days.
Jude, described as a “happy, healthy, smiley, wonderful, caring little boy”, died unexpectedly at Bristol Children’s Hospital on June 5 last year.
The little boy went to bed happy and healthy two days earlier after a video call with his grandad and uncle for their birthdays.
But after a night of stomach pains and vomiting, he was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital the following morning.
Scans revealed that the three-yearold’s bowel had become twisted and, despite undergoing emergency surgery before being rushed to Bristol for further treatment, doctors were unable to save him.
Jude’s mum, Laura, said: “He was a happy, healthy, smiley, wonderful, caring little boy. He loved his brothers, who are six and one. He was fine, had no underlying health conditions or anything, then went to bed having just FaceTimed his grandad and uncle.
“An hour later, he was complaining of a tummy ache and was sick throughout the night.
“In the morning, he was quite unresponsive, drifting in and out. We rang for help and he was rushed into Musgrove Park Hospital, where they tried to assess what was going on.”
She added: “Initially they thought it was diabetes until they scanned his abdomen and ruled that out.
“They found there was loads of fluid in there that shouldn’t be there and rushed him into surgery, where they had to cut out part of his bowel as it had died off.
“They did the surgery at Musgrove before sending him to Bristol Children’s Hospital, where he received the care that he needed.
“Unfortunately, he was fighting for his life for 24 hours on life support and ventilators before he slipped away.
“At that point, our world fell apart.” The family described the support and attention they received from Bristol Children’s Hospital as “incredible”.
Laura added: “We were just blown away by the care and compassion shown from every single member of staff.
“It was the worst time of our lives, but each member of staff came in with such positivity and energy, it gave us hope that everything would be normal and all right.
“That is what inspired us to want to give back.”
Jude’s dad, Richard, added: “I said to the staff as we were leaving that we’re going to raise as much money as possible because anybody in our situation deserves that.”
That was how the idea of a charity cycle ride for Jude came about.
Richard said: “We came home and within a couple of weeks we’d discussed with a few friends what we wanted to do.
“We wanted to do something that would be hard work, really difficult and take a lot of dedication, not fun.
“Three or four of us came up with the idea to cycle from John O’Groats to Land’s End, and it caught fire from there.
“We set up an initial target of £1,250 and we changed it to £10,000 and hit that within 48 hours. Then £20,000 was hit by New Year’s Eve.
“We don’t have a target in mind. We just want to keep raising as much money as possible.
“It goes a long way to helping other families who are in our situation to receive great care and support in the hospital and after as well.”
As of yesterday the JustGiving page reported that more than £75,000 had been raised by 3,815 supporters for The Grand Appeal Charity.
Richard added: “My six-year-old son is going to cycle the last six miles with us into Land’s End, which is going to be quite emotional for us.”
He said the team of 17 comprised people aged from 35 to those in their 50s.
Our world fell apart… it was the worst time of our lives LAURA CHINN
“It started off as just two or three people and it caught fire,” he said. “Within a couple of weeks, we had to cap the numbers at 17 as it would become a logistical nightmare otherwise.”
He said they had all been training regularly and updating each other on their WhatsApp group and giving each other inspiration.
Read more at www.jogleforjude.co.uk. The JustGiving page is at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/joglefor jude