School charity work goes on the record
ASCHOOL has proven it has a big heart by raising a record amount of money for a hospital’s transplant fund.
Greenbank Preparatory School in Cheadle drummed up more than £8,000 for Wythenshawe Hospital’s Heart Transplant Fund during its charities week.
The fund has a special place in the school’s heart as teaching assistant Lyndsey Aizlewood’s husband Mark received a life saving transplant at the hospital last year.
The dad of one, who contracted the heart disease restrictive cardiomyopathy 10 years ago, says he owes his life to the hospital’s transplant unit.
He said: “It was really the last throw of the dice for me. The drugs just stopped working and I would probably have been dead by Christmas, and certainly by now without the operation.”
But since his operation the 40-year-old from High Lane has once again been able to live life to the full.
He added: “It’s fantastic. My condition had been getting progressively worse and it got to the stage where I simply went into work, came back, had tea and went to bed just so I could have enough energy to get back into work in the morning.
“But now life is back to what it was 10 years ago. Even little things like bending down to play with my son George. I walk, run, swim, everything.
“I am just delighted and thankful the Greenbank community has recognised what we as a family have been through and decided to support this wonderful charity.”
Headteacher
Janet Lowe said the school had come together ‘like never before’ to raise a total of £8435.49 - the most it has ever donated to charity.
She said: “We had mufti days, cake sales, sponsored walks, sponsored silences, sponsored runs, sponsored keep fit sessions, you name it we’ve been sponsoring it.”
The fund - commonly known as New Heart-New Start - was set up 25 years go to support the hospital’s heart and lung transplant programme.
It has since raised more than £8m in donations which have helped to fund transplants, build the hospital’s transplant centre and purchase state-of-the art equipment.
Lynda Ellis, New Start charity administrator, added: “We could not do any of this without organisations such as Greenbank who have clearly come together to support one of their own.”