Beach walk fundraiser for children with heart disease
(CNS): Governor Martyn Roper and Deputy Governor Franz Manderson were among those who participated in Team Nolan’s 2nd Annual Heart Warriors and Angels Beach Walk in honour of Congenital Heart Defects Awareness week 2020 and to raise funds for children with CHD. The event was also “in memory of an undoubtedly beautiful Heart Warrior”, baby Nolan Evans (22 June 2017 – 25 Jan 2018), whom Ailian Evans of Team Nolan described as “my beautiful fighter, my real superhero”.
Evans said they were grateful to all their supporters, including Governor Roper, DG Manderson, volunteers, sponsors and the over 250 participants in the beach walk, which she said met all of the event’s targets.
Team Nolan Pediatric Program is the Pediatric Arm of the Cayman Heart Fund and is a non-profit organisation that was inspired by the courage of baby Nolan, who lost his fight to a complex congenital heart disease known as Truncus Arteriosus in January 2018.
The mission of Team Nolan is to raise awareness about local congenital heart disease and to financially assist local families with CHD babies through fundraising efforts such as the annual Beach Walk and Kidfest events. In June 2019 Team Nolan donated the Nolan Evans Memorial Bench to Health City’s main lobby, which illustrates CHD awareness messages for all to see when passing through the hospital’s lobby.
In October 2019 Team Nolan was able to cover the full cost of the purchase of a critically needed infant transport incubator for the Health Services Authority’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). In December 2019 Team Nolan presented a substantial donation of financial support to a family in need. Baby Mirella, who was born with a critical congenital heart defect Tetralogy of Fallot, was hospitalised for over four months in Health City Cayman Islands (HCCI).
“Most CHD children don’t look sick,” Evans said. “Sometimes you can’t tell them apart from other kids but their scars are very real. Beneath their shirts are battle scars, constant reminders of their battles to live.”
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Category: Community, Fundraiser, Local News, Medical and Health
