7 March 2017

A team of Doctors and Nurses from SaTH are preparing to compete in a charity fun run in support of a colleague whose newborn baby required life-saving surgery.

Sandi Angus, an Emergency Medicine Doctor at PRH gave birth to her and husband Ian’s first child, Joshua, in November 2015, but within four days they were told the devastating news that he had a congenital heart defect that would require open surgery.

Joshua underwent a successful operation at The Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH) when just 10-weeks-old and now mum Sandi plans to raise £2,500 for the BCH by tackling the Birmingham 10K on 30 April.

Sandi will be joined on the run by colleagues SaTH: Tracy Fearn (Emergency Nurse Practitioner), Raluca Dusa (Emergency Medicine Doctor), Caroline Goodwin (Emergency Medicine Doctor), Mike Leigh (Healthcare Assistant) and Yasmeen Musekhan (Emergency Medicine Doctor).  Suzanne Kapitanec and Sian Stockman, Paramedics from the West Midlands Ambulance Service, will also join her.

Sandi, 28, from Wolverhampton, said: “When Joshua was born on 28 November 2015 we were extremely proud parents, so to be told he had a congenital heart defect that would require open heart surgery to fix was incredibly difficult.

“Two stressful months followed. We were caught up in the ‘newborn fog’ that every new parent has to go through, made even more exhausting by the numerous hospital visits and admissions. In our darkest moments, we’d snuggle our beautiful boy and wonder if we’d get to see him grow up.

“At 10-weeks-old he underwent a successful procedure to close his ventricular septal defect, and we now have a beautiful, bonny, bouncy baby boy who has every chance of becoming a Premier League footballer, much to dad’s delight.

“Birmingham Children’s Hospital were wonderful, every step of the way, and we cannot thank them enough for the gift they have given us. We are proud to have already raised over £1,500 for them in the last six months but we want to raise even more. Hopefully, through a combination of our 10K challenge and Ian’s half marathon efforts in Stafford on 19 March we can raise at least £2,500.”

To sponsor Sandi visit www.justgiving.com/Sandi-Angus