Hospital-to-hospital fundraiser returns to help little Harry to walk

An annual Shropshire fundraiser which has generated more than £65,000 for charity in four years will return this summer to raise money to help a four-year-old walk.

Harry’s Potter is the latest hospital-to-hospital fundraiser to take place between the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH).

It will take place on 16 July and will again give people a chance to choose to take part in either an 18 mile walk, an 18 mile run or a 35 mile cycle ride from PRH to RSH.

The event will raise money to support little Harry Morgan-Shirley who lives in Codsall near Wolverhampton and whose mum works at PRH, to receive life-changing surgery to help him to walk.

Harry, who has cerebral palsy, was born with a type of brain damage called PVL (Periventricular Leukomalacia) which affects his balance, movement and muscle control. He is unable to stand or walk independently due to his cerebral palsy and wears splints to help reduce the tightness in his legs.

Harry’s Potter organiser Nick Holding, Senior Kaizen Promotion Office Specialist at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SATH), said the event was due to take a year off.

He said: “After our 2015 event, we felt that we needed to take a year off. We wanted to do more with the event and we thought it would be better to plan a year in advance.”

However, all that changed when Nick and colleague Sally Hodson, who works in the Women and Children’s Care Group, received a letter from Sue Dutton, a colleague from Outpatients at PRH who took part in the 2015 event and let them know about Harry.

Nick said: “We knew that Sue had taken part, but we didn’t know who she was fundraising for. Each year we set a ‘house charity’ where all registrations fees go, and then participants choose their own charity to support. Sometimes this is the house charity, in other cases people have their own preference. Sue mentioned in her letter that she had been fundraising for Harry, the son of Liz Morgan, a colleague of hers in Outpatients. Harry’s story really made an impact on us and we knew that we had to put the event on again in 2016 to support him and his family.”

Liz said: “We’re determined that Harry will walk again and have been overwhelmed by the support of people already, which has enabled us to raise more than £32,000 towards our £80,000 fundraising target.

“I’m delighted Nick and Sally have chosen to support Harry through their next hospital-to-hospital fundraiser. It’s a really lovely gesture and I hope lots of colleagues from SATH, together with members of the local community, will turn out in force to raise lots of money for what we think is a really worthy cause.”

Registration for this year’s event is now open. The event is open to everyone, and all charity fundraising is welcome. The entry fee is £10, which goes directly to the ‘House Charity’ – Harry will Walk (Tree of Life).

For more information, contact Nick at nick@shropshirecharityevents.co.uk sign up at www.shropshirecharityevents.co.uk or donate on-line at https://www.justgiving.com/harrywillwalk