Charity Boost For Clark Clinic.
13th October 2006
In August of this year thieves broke in to the Mount Eagles home of unwell 2-year-old Stephen Og Leckey and stole his precious heart monitor.
Stephen Og suffers from problems with his heart rhythm and there was a local outcry when it emerged that the Clark Clinic at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, the specialist centre for such problems, only actually had 6 of these valued monitors.
The Leckey family have since been raising awareness and the local community has joined in to help fundraise towards purchasing more heart monitors for the clinic. Stephen Og's uncle, David Leckey, has now seized upon the opportunity to try and get help from his employer – Phoenix Natural Gas. David has successfully applied for the substantial funding needed to buy another heart monitor for the clinic from the Energy for Children Charity, set up this year by the local natural gas industry with the aim of raising £100,000 towards the needs of local disadvantaged children.
After finding out his application had been successful David commented:
“I don't know how much we will raise within the community, but this donation through the gas charity is definitely the best start any of us could have hoped for”.
There are around 300 babies born locally each year with a heart defect (according to Heartbeat NI, a parent support group). Dr Brian Craig, Paediatric Cardiologist at the Clark Clinic, reflected:
“The donation is so gratefully received as every new monitor the clinic gets will lead to a reduction in waiting times for these young children”.
Pictured (L-R): Dr Brian Craig, Paediatric Cardiologist at the Clark Clinic, warmly welcomes the donation from David Leckey of Phoenix Natural Gas.