Brother’s Half Marathon Mission Thanks Medics for Sister’s Intensive Care

A doting brother who laced up his running shoes to take on a half marathon while his little sister received life-saving care has raised over £2,285 for our hospital, where she still remains a patient on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Twenty-five-year-old Jamie Hastings signed himself up to take on the Kenilworth Half Marathon to say thank you for the care his 14-year-old sister, Eleana, has received at our hospital since she was born. Little did Jamie know that when race day came around, Eleana would be an inpatient, having undergone life-saving and life-changing surgeries.

Eleana was born a large hole in her heart and an absent pulmonary valve, which her parents, Francesca and Darren later found out was because of a genetic condition called DiGeorge Syndrome, or 22q11 deletion. At just nine days old and weighing just 3lb 5oz, Eleana became the smallest baby in Britain to undergo open heart surgery to repair the hole and replace the missing valve.

Thankfully Eleana’s operation was successful, but it was the first of many and in the first three years of her life, Eleana underwent four more open-heart-surgeries. After that, Eleana began to thrive with regular outpatient care from our hospital, and support from her school.

This year though, Eleana returned to the hospital for a cardiac catheter, however, this led to life-threatening complications which meant that Eleana’s cardiac surgeons needed to perform a delicate sixth open-heart-surgery.

The complications were severe and after surgery Eleana remained in an induced coma and her family understood that there was a very real chance she might not survive. However, after two weeks, against the odds, Eleana was able to be woken up.

During this time, big brother Jamie had been training for the challenge he’d set himself way before this latest ordeal began. Between working as a chiropractor and running on a treadmill in a gym near the hospital, he spent every moment he could at Eleana’s side in our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Thankfully, on the day of the race Eleana was well enough to video call Jamie to wish him luck and thanks to friends and family who were able to go along to support Jamie, through the power of technology Eleana was able to see him cross the finish line.

Jamie said: “Our family owes so much to Birmingham Children’s Hospital for the care and treatment Eleana has received since she was born and I felt it was my time to give back. Eleana has experienced so many complications since her last heart surgery and we’re just so grateful to the PICU team for keeping her with us.

“I’m not really a runner so it was a real challenge but the fact that Eleana was – and still is –in hospital really pushed me to finish and had an incredible impact on my fundraising. I was awarded as the top fundraiser at the race.”

Annie Eytle, Head of Public Fundraising at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “Eleana has been through so much and in turn that must have been incredibly scary for her family, which is why we’re so humbled that Jamie decided to fundraise and push himself out of his comfort zone for our charity.

“The incredible £2,285 he raised will help us continue supporting the work of the brilliant staff in our hospital, including on our PICU, where Eleana is still receiving care.”