Hello, I’m Evie, and I’m raising money for Heart Heroes in honour of my beautiful three-year-old niece, Isabella through playing rugby for Bath Women's 7s this summer.

Over the last few years, I’ve seen first-hand how quickly life can change when someone you love is born with a serious heart condition. Isabella may only be three years old, but she has already been through three open heart surgeries. Through everything, she has shown more strength and bravery than I ever thought possible.

I wanted to raise money for Heart Heroes because they do so much for children living with heart conditions and for the families walking beside them. They have already supported Isabella and our whole family in ways we will always be grateful for.

Heart Heroes provides support to families in hospital, including play therapy, online resources, family days and events, bereavement support, and a community where families never feel alone during some of the hardest times in their lives.

Whether heart conditions have affected your life personally, someone you love, or even if this is a cause completely new to you, any donation — big or small — would mean so much.

Every penny raised will help Heart Heroes continue supporting children like Isabella and families like ours.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for any support you are able to give.

My sister has also written about Isabella’s journey so far, and we would be incredibly grateful if you could take the time to read her story too.

‘Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) affects almost 1 in 100 babies born in the UK, and Bristol is one of the specialist centres caring for children and families living with these lifelong conditions.

Isabella’s journey began before she was even born. At our 20-week scan, we were told there was something wrong with her heart, and she was later diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot — four heart defects occurring together. Because of this, Isabella was born at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol before being transferred to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, where our journey with the cardiac team truly began.

At just 16 days old, Isabella underwent her first life-saving procedure to place a stent into her heart. After months of hospital admissions and close monitoring, she was finally strong enough at 6 months old to undergo open-heart surgery. Although the surgery itself went well, her recovery was incredibly complex. Isabella spent 200 minutes on bypass, developed dangerous heart rhythm problems, required dialysis after kidney failure, and spent a long period on PICU fighting for her life.

For a while, things improved, and we hoped we would not face another surgery for many years. However, in 2025, during a routine appointment, we were devastated to learn that Isabella’s heart had rapidly deteriorated and she would need major surgery again far sooner than expected.

By the time surgery came around, Isabella’s little sister Emilia was only four months old. Without the incredible support of our family caring for Emilia throughout Isabella’s hospital stay, we genuinely would not have made it through.

What was expected to be a routine recovery quickly became life-threatening. Isabella struggled to breathe, developed a collapsed lung, and was eventually found to have reduced blood flow through a coronary artery, requiring emergency surgery. Watching her go through so much at such a young age was heartbreaking, but Isabella continued to fight through every setback with incredible strength.

Throughout our journey, charities such as Heart Heroes brought moments of comfort during some of our darkest days, while the care, compassion and skill shown by the teams on PICU and Dolphin Ward made an unforgettable difference to our family.

Today, Isabella is home with daily medication, regular hospital appointments, and ongoing monitoring for right-sided heart dysfunction. We still do not know exactly what the future holds, but we do know that Isabella is the bravest little girl we know, and we will forever be grateful to the people who helped save her life.