You Made It Happen
In August, Tiny Tickers was honoured to be chosen by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as one of their 15 Forces for Change charities. Throughout September, we celebrated our very own Forces for Change on social media, shining a light on a different person or organisiation every day. These are the people who make a real impact on our work. From the intrepid fundraisers who raise thousands of pounds to help babies with serious heart conditions, to the volunteers who donate their time to helping heart babies and the health professionals who deliver our life-saving cardiac training – we honoured them all. These are the people that make a difference to babies with serious heart conditions every single day.
To celebrate the NCVO’s #YouMadeItHappen campaign, we’ve put together all the social media posts into one blog post. We hope you enjoy reading about the people who go the extra mile for tiny hearts.
1st September: Our trainers

Today, we celebrate the wonderful folk who carry out this training. Our trainers travel up and down the UK to deliver our specialist cardiac training to the sonographers who perform pregnancy scans. Without their hard work and dedication, our work would simply not be possible.
Pictured top row, L to R: Anne Rhodes (Tiny Tickers Head of Training), Sam Bainbridge, Nicola Harding and Marguerite Usher-Somers
Bottom row, L to R: Jo Jones, Jan Forster, Angela Hobbs and Janette Keit
2nd September: Nicky Haggerty

You can read Tom’s story and see Nicky’s vlog about his recent cardiology review here.
3rd September: Grace Foster

Aimee says, ‘Grace never had a chance to make her own mark on the world and so it’s my job to do that for her. Nothing can bring her back, all I can do is turn her loss into something meaningful. Everything I do for Tiny Tickers is driven by my love for Grace and my desire to make sure all heart babies and their families get the best care and support possible.’
You can read Grace’s story here.
4th September: Natasha Pye, her partner Andy McKellar and their baby boy, Tommy.

Natasha and Andy have worked tirelessly to ensure no other parent faces a loss like theirs. They funded a pulse oximetry machine at their local hospital and, with their support, we launched our Test for Tommy campaign last year. Named in memory of Tommy, through the campaign we aim to place pulse oximetry machines in all UK maternity units – so every baby gets the test that could help save their life.
We’re delighted to announce that we’ve now placed 111 machines across the UK. Those machines will test 166,500 babies per year, undoubtedly saving lives. Thank you Natasha, Andy and Tommy for helping make this possible.
Find out more and donate to Test for Tommy here.
5th September: Rocco

Rocco was born with Transposition of the Great Arteries, which was detected at mum, Lisa’s, 20-week scan. Lisa has no doubt that this early detection saved Rocco’s life.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved. Please watch the appeal here.
6th September: Eadie Hoskisson and her family.

Eadie’s family are determined to make a difference for other heart babies in Eadie’s memory. Last year, Eadie’s aunt, Emily, bravely jumped out of a plane to raise money for Tiny Tickers. And both Emily and Eadie’s dad, Stephen, took part in the Great North Run for us.
7th September: Sarah and Theo Crawley

Sarah created Hope for Little Hearts to raise money for the life-saving care needed by babies with heart conditions like Theo’s. Sarah and Hope for Little Hearts have raised over £20,000 for Tiny Tickers over the past year! We are so grateful to everyone involved in their fundraising for making such a huge difference for tiny hearts.
8th September: Joe Barry

‘I decided I might as well do the Great North Run – just because I can – and to prove to everyone that just because I have a heart condition, it doesn’t stop me from running.’
Joe is a true heart hero and an inspiration to us all!
9th September: You
By leaving a gift in your will, you can make a positive change for generations to come. You’ll be helping to create more tomorrows for babies diagnosed with congenital heart disease (CHD) and their parents and families.
During Remember a Charity Week (which started on the 9th September), charities all over the country spread awareness about the importance of gifts in wills, bybusting some of the common myths about legacies.
How do you want to be remembered?
You can find out more about leaving us a gift in your will and our discounted will writing service here.
10th September: Our CEO, Jon Arnold, and his daughter, Zoe.

Entering the world of CHD inspired Jon to join Tiny Tickers in 2013 and since then he has worked passionately to help ensure more heart babies are diagnosed as soon as medically possible and that their families are given the support they need.
As well as his day-to-day work for the charity, Jon’s dedication to the cause has, amongst other things, seen him taking on marathons, trekking up mountains and running, cycling and swimming 230 miles in 6 days. His passion and enthusiasm drives everything we do – we couldn’t make such an impact for heart babies and their families without him.
11th September: Callie Pothecary and Jemma Milton

Since then, Callie and Jemma have raised THOUSANDS of pounds for babies with congenital heart disease,through their hugely successful Make the Point 10k event, but also by running in other marathons and with a quiz night they organised this summer.
They are pictured here at the celebration we held when we trained our 1000th sonographer last year. It’s thanks to Callie and Jemma, and all our amazing fundraisers, that we can achieve milestones such as that…and continue helping tiny hearts in the future.
12th September: Professor Andrew Ewer

Our CEO, Jon Arnold, says, ‘”Prof Ewer is the leading force behind so much of the research into pulse oximetry testing for newborns. Thanks directly to his work, dedication and passion over a number of years, more and more countries and health authorities are adopting pulse oximetry screening – meaning an increasing number of babies are having the test that could help save their lives. We have been delighted to work with Prof Ewer on our project to fund and place machines in UK NHS Trusts, and to campaign for the test to be offered to all babies.”
So far, we’ve placed 111 pulse oximetry machines throughout the UK and we’d like to thank Prof. Ewer for everything he does to help babies with serious heart conditions.
13th September: Linda Atkins

Linda says, ‘In December 2014, we were preparing to welcome twin girls into our family, when we received the news that one of the babies had congenital heart disease. Our beautiful girls, Ruby and Francesca, arrived in late March. They were both allowed home but, sadly, after 4 days, Ruby’s condition suddenly deteriorated and she died aged 11 days. I became involved with Tiny Tickers because I wanted to help ensure that every baby born with CHD is diagnosed at an antenatal scan. Ruby will never be forgotten and what greater memorial can I give to her than helping another baby in a similar position?’
14th September: Faith

Faith was inspired raise money for Tiny Tickers because she wanted to help children with poorly hearts, like her friend Oliver.
We think she’s simply amazing!
15th September: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
The 15th September is the Duke of Sussex’s birthday. As well as wishing him a very happy birthday, we’d also like to thank him and the Duchess once again for choosing us as one their forces for change in August.
The moment we learned we had been chosen, alongside 14 other incredible organisations, we were in complete shock. And that shock quickly turned to delight when we saw what a difference the support was making.
16th September: The Garfield Weston Foundation
With the generous support of the Garfield Weston Foundation, we can continue our vital work to improve detection rates, care and treatment of congenital heart defects in babies.
Every 2 hours, a baby is born with a congenital heart defect. We work to make sure those babies are diagnosed as soon as medically possible and that their families get the support they need.
Without funders like the Garfield Weston Foundation, we simply couldn’t do what we do.
17th September: Ride2Recovery

We are so grateful to be one of the two charities supported by the Ride2Recovery event this year, which so far has raised almost £100,000!
Our Head of Fundraising, Katie Lawson, says, “We’ve been blown away by the fundraising efforts and commitment of the Ride2Recovery team. Their commitment to making a difference is wonderful, and we’re honoured to have been chosen to receive some of the funds raised. This event is a testament to strength and bravery in the face of adversity – something that we know our heart families have experienced and will understand.”
We’d like to say a huge well done and thank you to all the heroes involved in the event! You can find out more about Ride2Recovery here.
18th September: The Duggleby family

Ami and Liam’s fundraising efforts including everything from pamper evenings to the Run or Dye event and they also appeared in our Family Experience videos – talking about finding out Minnie had a heart defect after she was born and dealing with their bereavement (see our Family Experience videos here.
We are so grateful for their support, which has helped us improve the chances of other babies like Minnie and support many other families.
19th September: City of London School

We can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done. It has been such an honour getting to know them all and seeing how much they put into their charity appeal. This donation will go a very long way in helping us train more sonographers, place pulse oximetry machines in hospitals, support families and raise awareness of congenital heart disease. This donation will undoubtedly save lives.
To all the pupils, students and parents – THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!
20th September: Ffion Jones

Ffion raised the funds to purchase the machines in memory of her son, Bobbi Rees, who sadly passed away at just 4 days old due to a congenital heart defect.
We’re so glad to support the wonderful work of the labour ward team at Ysbyty Gwynedd, thanks to the generosity of Ffion and in memory of Bobbi Rees
21st September: Hannah Shooman

Hannah said, ‘My key motivation for wanting to raise money for Tiny Tickers is my nephew. At his 20 week scan, a heart defect was detected and we discovered that he had Tetralogy of Fallot. I just believe that the earlier heart issues can be detected, the more chance that parents have to prepare for the arrival of these precious and incredible little people!’
We’re so grateful to Hannah and all the wonderful people who run for tiny hearts.
22nd September: Swizzels

We’re so grateful to them for their continued support and for helping make each Heart Week a resounding success!
Next year’s Heart Week will take place between 24th February and 1st March. 2020 is also our 20th birthday year, so it’s going to be a very special one! Make sure you save the date!
23rd September: Bob Ward

He has also undertaken some epic journeys for heart babies in his 64 year old MG TD car, ‘Little Red Box’, raising over £1000!
It’s thanks to people like Bob that we can continue making an impact for tiny hearts.
24th September: Honey Brown and her family

As well as sharing Honey’s story in a 4 part blog series on our website (you can read it here), Grace and the Brown family raised a lot of money for other heart babies through a number of fundraising activities, including a sponsored walk.
We’d like to thank Grace, Honey and their entire family for their support over the years – for the fundraising and also for helping spread awareness of the importance of early detection of CHD.
25th September: Billy Hopkin

Last December, thanks to the genius of our friends at Golin, the Christmas lights of Seven Dials in Covent Garden were driven by Billy’s heartbeat.
This beautiful campaign captured the hearts of people all around the world. “Christmas is meant to be the happiest time of year but I think it’s very easy to forget that lots of families could be going through a really hard time – and sadly they don’t get to enjoy the holidays together,” said Rebecca.
We’re so thankful to heart warrior, Billy, and everyone at Golin for creating a Christmas campaign we’ll never forget.
26th September: Emma

It’s thanks to people like Emma that we can ensure more babies with congenital heart disease have their conditions detected as soon as medically possible, giving them a better chance.
27th September: Gaynor Bearder

Gaynor and husband Tony are parents to two sons, Joel and Lucas. Joel was born with undetected Critical Aortic Stenosis in July 2007 and his brother, Lucas, stole the show at the Hope For Hearts Ball with a heartfelt speech about his sibling.
28th September: Our ambassadors, Sir Antony and Lady Chanelle McCoy

Their support transformed our charity, raising money that would help grow the organisation and train hundreds of sonographers across the UK. We are forever grateful to them for the impact they’ve had on our charity, and so many babies.
29th September: Everyone who has supported Tiny Tickers

We celebrate the organisations who generously fund our work, the social media followers who share our content, the bloggers, the bakers, the volunteers…ALL OF YOU!!
Without you, it just wouldn’t be possible for us to carry out our vital work. Thank you for helping us give tiny hearts a better start!
30th September: Professor Helena Gardiner
Our final September force for change is Tiny Tickers’ founder – Professor Helena Gardiner, Consultant Fetal Cardiologist, Director of Fetal Cardiovascular Training and Research.
Professor Gardiner founded our charity in 1999, when she realised many of the babies she was caring for could have been helped earlier.

The results speak for themselves – a recent report from the National Congenital Heart Audit (NICOR Congenital) shows that 53.5% of all CHD now have a prenatal detection across the whole UK – double the detection rate we saw when Tiny Tickers began 20 years ago.
I am particularly proud of the increase in prenatal detection of Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA), which was regularly missed at screening. Now, an amazing 76% of TGA babies are detected before birth – thanks to greatly improved screening.
I believe Tiny Tickers is a force for change as we have been at the forefront of training and lobbying for recognition of the need for better screening – and this is also recognised in the NICOR Congenital report.’
Without Professor Gardiner, none of this would have been possible. She is a true force for change for all heart babies – past, present and future. Thank you
Read more about Forces for Change here.
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