Tag: 2021

When nine-year-old Alice Rands set off on a 50-mile running challenge, she only wanted to raise £50 for the Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal – just £1 for every mile.

But after she finally completed her challenge after weeks of running over the Christmas period, Alice had managed to raise an incredible £1,085.

Proud mum Caroline says the Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal is a cause that is very important to the family after Alice was treated for a serious condition at the Leicester Royal Infirmary in her younger years.

“It all started in May 2015,” explains Caroline. “Alice was three-and-a-half, fit and healthy. Then, suddenly, she started regularly being sick – first once a week, then twice a week, then once a day, then twice a day.

“Obviously we were quite concerned, but after we followed medical advice to make sure it wasn’t food intolerances and she wasn’t getting better, I ended up taking her to the Emergency Department at the Leicester Royal Infirmary at 3am one night.

Alice was in hospital for three weeks and received a range of scans and tests as hospital staff investigated what was causing her such problems. Caroline stayed with Alice at the LRI while her husband continued to work and look after Alice’s older sister.

Eventually, Paediatric Consultant Mr Haitham Dagash diagnosed Alice with Brunner’s Gland Hyperplasia, an exceedingly rare tumour having developed on a gland that helps protect the digestive system from the acidic contents of the stomach during food digestion.

After a six hour operation, Mr Dagash and his team successfully corrected Alice’s condition and she has since made a full recovery. During lockdown in the run up to Christmas, Alice was inspired by her mum to take on a charity challenge to raise money for the children’s hospital that had treated her.

“I did a 50 mile running challenge in October to help raise money for prostate cancer support,” says Caroline. “Alice saw me doing that and said that she wanted to run 50 miles to raise £50 for the Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal.

“We worked out that going into the Christmas holidays if she could do a mile or two after she’d finished school every day she could hit the 50 miles by the end of Christmas if she had a couple of days off on the way.”

Every night, Alice ran alongside either her mum, her dad, or some of her friends around her local neighbourhood. The more people learned about Alice’s efforts, the more the donations came flooding in.

“We’re really fortunate that our family, friends, work contacts and the others who saw it were so generous,” Caroline says. “She managed to raise £1,085. I think people were touched that a nine-year-old wanted to do something so out of her comfort zone.”

Alice’s incredible discipline and hard work has earned the attention of BBC East Midlands Today, who will be featuring her on tonight’s evening news bulletin. Caroline says she is very proud of her daughter’s efforts.

“I think it’s really pleasing to see people wanting to support a child doing a good thing. We’re really proud of Alice for coming up with the idea and then seeing it through.

“We had a little hiccup over Christmas when she was told to self-isolate because of a positive test in her class which meant we lost about six days. But when she came out of isolation and we heard Tier 4 was being introduced to Charnwood, we worked out that Alice had eight miles to complete in just 12 hours. She pushed herself to the very end and even clocked one of her fastest miles at the time! So it’s been very uplifting and a great experience.”

Inspiring children like Alice are helping to make our dream of a new, state-of-the-art children’s hospital in Leicester a reality by supporting the Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal.

Anyone wanting to contribute towards the appeal can visit DoThemProud.com to donate, sign up as a supporter or learn more about the appeal, or can follow the appeal on Facebook at FB.me/DoThemProud and help spread the word on social media using #DoThemProud.

Our Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal will support families across Leicestershire, Rutland and the wider East Midlands for years to come.

For so many children and young people, like 14-year-old Alex, our children’s services are literally life-saving.

Alex’s mum, Karen, is usually a private person. But to help show how important our Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal is to her and her family, Karen says that if sharing their story helps to support the appeal, then she is happy to tell it.

“Alex’s story began in December 2011 when he was five years old. He collapsed on the bathroom floor with severe breathing difficulties. As a diagnosed asthmatic, we were used to managing Alex’s attacks with inhalers and the occasional trip to urgent care and the Emergency Department. But this particular episode he had been poorly for several weeks and we were finding it hard to manage his symptoms.

“We never imagined how quickly he would deteriorate.

“The ambulance crew were with us rapidly to take us to Kettering General Hospital. The ambulance crew said the resuscitation team were waiting for Alex on arrival. They worked hard to stabilise him and told us that he was in a serious condition.

“When we arrived at Leicester and found the PICU, we were beside ourselves with worry. An intensive care unit is somewhere that you would never want to find yourself.

“Alex looked so tiny in the bed, surrounded by machines they were doing the vital job of breathing for him. The staff who were caring for Alex were so kind and calm. They watched him around the clock, but they always made sure to look after us too.

“We are pleased to report that Alex is now 14-years-old and is fit and strong. He is six foot tall and plays football and runs for the local athletics club. He cannot remember anything about his time on intensive care, apart from meeting the Leicester Tigers rugby team and our trips to the café for a cake when he was recovering on the high dependency unit and the ward.

“We have obviously been concerned about him with the outbreak of coronavirus and now more than ever it is vital that there is all the equipment possible for the Leicester Children’s Hospital staff to help look after patients and give them the treatment they need.

“We were more than happy to donate to Leicester Children’s Hospital Appeal to support the amazing life-saving treatment they provide. We would urge everyone like us – parents, families and even those who aren’t – to support the appeal to make sure the children’s services in our city are as good as all of our children deserve them to be.”