PRIDE OF ST HELENS: Nominees for the Assured Life Charity Champion

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There will be prizes awarded in 11 categories on the night at Saints' stadium.

Here are the nominees for the Assured Life Charity Champion:

Claire Lewis and team 1C

HUNDREDS of children’s lives have been saved after Claire Lewis and other parents – whose children have been treated by a surgeon at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital – raised thousands for him to help heal other tiny hearts abroad.

Claire, whose two-year-old son Jake was born with a high, irregular heart rate, led the Healing Little Hearts event for Dr Ramana Dhannapuneni, amassing £40,000 for camps abroad. There he provides free heart surgery to babies and children in countries where there is no NHS or free health care system.

These children often come from poor families and would not be able to have the operations they need without the efforts of the Alder Hey surgeon.

All the parents involved also have children who suffer from serious and often life threatening heart problems.

Despite the huge stresses that looking after children born with serious heart problems involves, they selflessly and successfully continue to raise further funds for the camps by holding different events.

Visit healinglittlehearts.org.uk for more info.

 

Mark Smith

DAD-of-six Mark Smith has come to the aid of thousands of people across the UK via social media community groups.

Mark took action after becoming frustrated at the lack of support and immediate help for hard-pressed families.

The Changing Lives on Ur Doorstep Cloud St Helens Group was set up five years ago by Mark, who was a single dad at 17.

With the help of dedicated admins, the group assists people in St Helens who are in desperate need of help to feed their children or pay for gas and electric.

Since then Mark, who works for Britannia Taxis, has also set up a further 53 community groups across the country, stretching as far as Fife in Scotland.

The group do not ask for money and is run entirely by volunteers for members of the community.

Mark said: “I was a single dad at 17 and I was too proud to ask my amazing family for help. I had that as an option but many don’t and that’s what I wanted to try and fix. I’ve found that if people can help, most will.”

For more information go to bit.ly/changinglivessthelens.

 

Karen Jarvis

AFTER suffering a brain haemorrhage and being diagnosed with breast cancer – mum-of-two Karen Jarvis decided to live life to the fullest while helping others – and has since raised thousands of pounds.

Karen, from Eccleston, was out on her bike in 2009 when she had a brain haemorrhage.

Just months later she competed in the European Duathlon Championships in Budapest, Hungary placing ninth. However, a year later she was also diagnosed with breast cancer. But far from letting this beat her, Karen, now 58, got involved in fundraising events for the unit – including walking down a fashion catwalk while still undergoing chemotherapy.

Among those she has raised money for through cycling, spin and running events, are brain tumour fighter Steve White and fellow nominee Chris Carberry (see Courage Award nomination). She is on the fundraising committee for the Breast Unit at St Helens Hospital. She said: “I feel speechless being nominated for this and totally overwhelmed because I just enjoyed raising money for others after what I went through.”