“He’s been the inspiration, our little angel” - Greg and Amy Worthington’s fundraising in honour of their little boy Isaac

The family started fundraising for the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund because of the care given to Isaac, who died prematurely in 2018 of congenital heart defects.

They describe him as having been “born sleeping”.

Despite an original target of £1,000, the total is now over £9,250, and the cheque presentation took place at Queensbury Rugby Club, where Greg is a coach, on Monday, April 19 - the anniversary of the date Isaac would have been born.

There is a new advertising billboard at the ground - visible from the road and the pitch as it’s two-sided, promoting the fund, and the club have put the fund’s logo on both the home and away shirts for next season, which has made the family extremely proud.

“Me and my wife went through the heartache of losing a child through pregnancy,” said Greg. “As we went through that process a lot of the issues that Isaac was carrying came to the surface, we found out he had multiple heart defects and through that process we looked at all possible outcomes. It came to light that he wasn’t going to be compatible with life.

“If he had have survived then the place he would have been spending his time would have been in the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit. We’ve looked at a charity to raise some awareness and some money for because that’s where Isaac would have been going. And to do it in the honour of his name, is a really nice thing to do. We thought it would be a really good charity to represent in Isaac’s name.

“We’ve been really taken aback by the response we’ve got in raising awareness and money for the charity.”

“This obviously makes you sit back and reflect on the heartache, you look on everything you went through in that specific time. But it’s also been nice to reflect and acknowledge that was a part of our life and he’s always going to be with us. And to do something in honour, I think it’s a really nice thing to do in his name.

“Like I say the response has been really heart-warming and every penny does literally help - it helps the charity massively.”

Amy said: “It’s unbelievable to be honest that we were able to raise so much, especially mid-pandemic. The support, kindness and generosity of all our friends and family has been totally overwhelming.

“We’ve done it over an 11-week period, so that’s helped. I’ve done two little raffles a week, and we’ve had big contributions from Queensbury Rugby for shirts and things. The lads have bought tickets for £5 or £10 a go and that might be on a lottery of 60 teams so that’s a lot of money in one go. I’ve been running a What’s App group, who have donated all sorts of things. There’s lots of rugby memorabilia that’s been raffled, and money scratch-cards have gone down really well too.

“When I drove past that (the billboard) I was really emotional, especially to have that in Queensbury for all the Rugby fans to see - as they’ve been such a massive support.

“Because Isaac was never here, to have people know that he existed is brilliant. To us he was - and is - so real, and for people to be saying his name and remembering him is brilliant – I love that. He’s been the inspiration, our little angel.”

To donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/isaac-robert.