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 On 16th
May my husband Tony, myself and our younger daughter Holly were waiting to
collect Charlie from school and we received a call to say that Charlie had
collapsed and was having a fit. Charlie was such a fit and healthy child that we
simply couldn’t believe what we were hearing. The school said they had
called an ambulance.
We raced into the school within
minutes - at the same time as the ambulance. It wasn’t until we reached
Charlie on the playing field that we realised how serious the situation was. I
was at the time 8 months pregnant with our third child Scarlett and couldn’t
take in seeing them trying to resuscitate my beautiful little boy who had
bounced out the door so fit and healthy that morning with not so much as a cold.
My husband took Charlie in his arms and ran to the ambulance. Everyone was
in a sheer panic including the ambulance team.
The ambulance drove so quickly to
our local hospital which is just five minutes away but nothing could be done to
save Charlie - they tried everything they could for what seemed to be hours.
Nothing prepares you for the shock and numbness that that day and the many that
followed brought.
At the time nobody knew what had
happened to Charlie and all the tests on his organs and heart showed they were
perfectly healthy, this was very hard to deal with. Why had my 8 year old son
just died for no reason? Charlie’s heart was sent to the Royal Brompton and this
is where they diagnosed the sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, although it still
didn’t really make any sense. It was about a week later that a friend told us
about CRY and gave us the website address.
We spent hours reading the
website in total disbelief at the number of deaths and so many of them children,
we simple didn’t know this sort of thing happened. I also received a call from
Alison some weeks later and talking to her really helped and made us realise we
weren’t on our own.
We are now as a family being
looked after by Dr Sanjay Sharma at Lewisham hospital as the sad reality is that
this may affect other members of the family.
Tony and I put all our efforts in
to raising money for the charity and getting as much awareness for them in the
local area. In September 2007 Tony rode to Paris and raised £10,367 and in
November 2007 we held the Tiger Ball which raised over £12,000.
We have also had a golf day,
balloon release and many more events held by friends and family. In the six
months after Charlie’s death we had managed to raise £30,000. The fundraising is
getting even bigger for this year with parachute jumps, marathon runs, The Tiger
Ball 2, another longer bike ride and 2 golf days.
I will do whatever I can for the
charity, be it raising awareness or money. It is an honour to become County
Representative to Kent and helps me do something positive in Charlie’s memory.
Allison Spalding
If you would like to contact one of our
Representatives or a Bereavement Supporter please call the CRY office at 01737 363222 or e-mail cry@c-r-y.org.uk
and we will put you in touch with someone who may be able to help
you.
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