Thomas’s superhero winsBHF national competition

Thomas McGrattan entered the competition after his mum saw it publicised on the BHF Twitter feed.

BHF ran the contest as part of its Bag it. Beat it. campaign.

Thomas designed a superhero, called Heart Hero, with a green tunic featuring a red heart, a yellow cape and a red mask.

Heart Hero’s superpowers include special fingers to take blood tests without needles, laser eyes to fix babies’ hearts and an endless supply of BHF bags in the cape.

Thomas is the second son of Dr. Ken and Dr. Juliet McGrattan of Wray, Lancaster. Ken is a former pupil of Portrush Primary School and Coleraine Academical Institution.

He is the grandson of Hugh and Josephine McGrattan who live in Hopefield.

Thomas’s mum, Juliet, said,:“Thomas was so excited to find out he’d won the competition.

“He absolutely loves superheros and even set up his own business designing and making superhero costumes for his friends!

“He put so much thought into his design so it’s lovely to see that it’s paid off. So far his heart seems to be functioning normally, but it needs to be monitored as he grows.”

BHF Area Manager, Ann Lomas, said, “I’d like to extend our congratulations to Thomas for winning the Bag it. Beat it. design a heart superhero competition.

“The quality of the entries was very high overall, but we were all really impressed with Heart Hero.”

Thomas had Kawaski disease, a rare condition that main affects children under five, when he was four months old. Although it is not a congenital heart defect, Thomas has grown up aware of the need for taking medicine and having blood tests.

As part of winning the competition, Thomas had his design made into a poster and also received a toy version of his heart superhero to keep, made by Just-Cuddle.com