Lisburn company raise £8,100 for Heartbeat

Gerard McAdorey, the Managing Director of GM Marketing, helped to organise a number of events for the charity after his 16-month-old son Theo had the surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

The Ballinderry boy was born with two holes in his heart and had surgery to repair the damage at the Royal in May 2009.

Following their experience Gerard and his wife Maria wanted to do something for Heartbeat who helped supply parent accommodation at the hospital.

The company held a golf day at Portrush, there was also a charity walk at the towpath from Stranmillis to Shaws Bridge and Gerard's mother held a bag packing event at Marks and Spencer which raised 1000.

"It was a traumatic time for us as a family," said Gerard. "We saw other people who are in worse situations but you just had to give your child over to the care of the surgeon."

As the company often runs events for charity, it was decided to help Heartbeat.

"We just wanted to do something ," Gerard said. "For instance I knew from other parents that one thing that was needed was a washing machine at the parents' accommodation."

He said that he would like to thank everyone who helped.

"We would like to thank all the customers, staff, friends and family members who devoted their time and effort with all the fundraising events - we really appreciated it," he said.

Heartbeat, the Northern Ireland children's heart disease charity, is a parent support group for families of children who have heart disease. In excess of 200 babies are born each year in Northern Ireland with a heart disorder. One third of these children require surgery.

Heartbeat is made up of several locally-based groups.

The Association provides emotional and practical support to any family or individual who has a child with heart disease. Support is carried on as and however the child's family has need of it, and many of these families then become active members themselves, with a desire to help others as they know how important it can be to have someone to lean on.