Uncle’s Three-Peak Success

A thankful uncle who was inspired by the care his niece received after experiencing a cardiac arrest, raised over £1,335 for us by climbing three mountains in under 12 hours.

Darryl Dicken, a gas engineer from Tipton, joined with three family members to take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge and reach the peaks of Pen-y-Ghent (694 metres), Whernside (736 metres) and Ingleborough (723 metres).

Darryl was joined by his wife’s uncle, Mark Kinsey, his brother, Luke Dicken, and his father-in-law, Giles Butler, who all took on the challenge inspired by Taylor, Darryl and Luke’s 17-year-old niece and her care at our hospital.

Taylor was just 14 when she suddenly and unexpectedly went into cardiac arrest while playing at the park with her friends. Seeing Taylor collapse, her quick-thinking friends called 999 and sought help from a passer-by, who performed CPR until paramedics arrived and blue-lighted her to our hospital.

After undergoing tests, our doctors concluded that Taylor’s cardiac arrest was completely spontaneous, with no real root cause so to make sure it didn’t happen again, Taylor was taken to the operating theatre where she was given an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). A small battery powered device, an ICD sits under the skin, usually near the collar bone, with small wires connected to the heart to detect and treat any further abnormal heart rhythms with electrical currents.

Unfortunately, as Taylor continued to grow, one of the wires in her ICD snapped so she was readmitted for a replacement but her body began to reject the new ICD and it had to be removed again. A couple of weeks later, Taylor had a new, different ICD fitted successfully.

Amidst Taylor’s ordeal, her uncles Darryl and Luke, along with Mark and Giles began to plan a challenge, to give back and say thank you to our cardiac ward, where she was undergoing her care. The team set up a fundraising page online to share with their friends and colleagues but spread the word in person at their local social club, Wednesbury Civil Defence Club, too before setting off on their adventure.

Darryl said: “Mark and I often take on challenges together but we wanted to make this one count so Luke and Giles joined us for the Yorkshire Three Peaks to raise as much as we could to give back to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. We can’t say thank you enough for everything they’ve done to get Taylor back on her feet after such a scary experience.

“We set ourselves a fundraising target of £300 but everyone got behind us and we reached it within two days so we set our sights higher and we couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who supported us. It was a tough challenge but we managed to complete all three peaks in 10 hours and 40 minutes so we’re really proud of ourselves.”

Annie Eytle, Head of Public Fundraising at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “It’s always humbling to hear how our patients’ care inspires such incredible fundraising like Darryl’s. Along with Mark, Luke and Giles, Darryl raised a brilliant amount which will go towards helping us continue supporting patients just like Taylor.”