On the 8th November 2019, Tiny Tickers celebrated our 20th birthday. Since 1999 we have achieved so much for babies born with serious heart conditions.
Our History
Tiny Tickers was formed on the 8th November 1999 by world-renowned fetal cardiologist, Professor Helena Gardiner, when when she realised many of the babies she was caring for could have been helped earlier.
Professor Gardiner says, ‘As a doctor caring for unborn babies with congenital heart defects, I saw how much having a diagnosis during pregnancy improved the lives of both babies and their families, by providing support and expert care through this difficult time. This inspired me to establish Tiny Tickers to train sonographers to scan babies’ hearts in the womb more confidently. The results speak for themselves – a recent report from the National Congenital Heart Audit (NICOR Congenital) shows that 53.5% of all congenital heart defect now have a prenatal detection across the whole UK – double the detection rate we saw when Tiny Tickers began 20 years ago.’
Sixty years ago, the majority of babies born with congenital heart disease (CHD) didn’t survive to see their first birthday. Today, 8 out of 10 babies born with CHD survive into adulthood.
As a very small charity, with a team of just nine staff members, we’re incredibly proud of our achievements. But there is still a lot to do…
Our Future
Our mission is to ensure every baby with a serious heart condition has the best chance of survival and quality of life.
Over the past 20 years, the UK’s average antenatal detection rates of CHD have risen from 23% to just over 50%. We want that figure to be 75%.
How do we plan to achieve that? We’ll continue working tirelessly to:
1. Train and support sonographers and other health professionals working to help patients with CHD;
2. Influence service standards and be a voice for CHD patients and their families;
3. Fund equipment and support new technologies to improve detection, diagnosis and treatment of CHD;
4. Provide families with information, advice and access to support during their CHD journey.
Thank You
As a small charity that receives no government funding, nothing we have achieved and will achieve is possible without our generous supporters. From the organisations who fund our projects, to the runners, skydivers, bakers and Facebook fundraisers who raise vital funds – without your support we simply couldn’t continue our life-saving work.
Thank you for helping us get to 20 years and beyond and for giving babies with serious heart conditions a better start in life.
You must be logged in to post a comment.