Donate a Doll Appeal Raises £2,055 so far!

Since launching the Donate a Doll appeal on Giving Tuesday (3rd December 2019), we have raised an incredible £2,055 plus a further £174 from gift aid. We’ve been delighted with the response from our supporters and the sonographers that will benefit. 

Giving sonographers the skills, knowledge and confidence to detect heart defects at 20 week pregnancy scans is our core activity. To further assist these sonographers, Head of Training, Anne Rhodes, created the situs doll. Each doll will help sonographers assess the tiny hearts of the babies they scan at 20 weeks gestation. The video below explains how.

Launched on Giving Tuesday 2019, we asked our supporters to name a doll on behalf of, or in memory of, a loved one. We’re delighted to have received names for 150 dolls which will be used across UK hospitals to help sonographers detect congenital heart disease in the womb.

Speaking about the incredible result, CEO Jon Arnold, said: “I am delighted with the response to the Donate A Doll appeal – we thought the opportunity to name a doll would resonate with our supporters but we didn’t expect the phenomenal response we received.

“What moved me the most were the poignant messages we received throughout the day from supporters naming dolls after their loved ones. I’m so pleased that these dolls will be heading out to hospitals across the UK to help sonographers in a very practical way. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the appeal.”

Donor Jessica said, ‘I have donated in honor of my son, Finn, who is 4 months old. At our 20 week scan, the sonographer picked up that our baby had a congenital heart defect. When he was born, Finn was diagnosed with Coarctation of the Aorta and several VSD’s. At just 10 days old, he had open heart surgery which saved his life. After a month in Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Finn made an excellent recovery and was finally discharged to come home. He has gone from strength to strength ever since and we are so proud of our strong, brave little man. We would like the doll to have his name in honour of this.’

Catherine said, ‘We went to our 20 week scan wondering if we should ask if we were expecting a boy or girl and came out with the devastating news that something wasn’t right with the structure of our babies heart, suddenly gender was irrelevant. Our little boy would almost certainly have died had we not had the antenatal diagnosis and whilst it’s been the toughest time for us knowing what was coming, it was absolutely what we needed for him. His heart journey is far from over, but from day one he has had the right care and that’s 100% because he had a well trained sonographer. Thank you Tiny Tickers.’

Thank you to everyone who has supported our Donate a Doll appeal to date.

Find out how you can send a hospital the doll that helps sonographers scan tiny hearts here.