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In fine tune for Leon

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Members of The Listening Post, (a regular live music event in association with the Senior Common Room at the University of Ulster in Coleraine), musicians from Honeysuckle, Ballymoney and the Murder Balladeers from Derry, present a cheque for £300 to Anne

A REGULAR live music initiative which takes place at Coleraine University every fortnight has raised £300 for Heartbeat NI from gigs played over the past year. The Listening Post, which launched in 2011, hosts original live music from the university's Senior Common Room throughout the year, showcasing a wealth of local talent.
On hand to accept the cheque from members of the Listening Post team was Coleraine woman Anne-Marie McCaughan, whose son Leon, had open-heart surgery when he was just six days old.
Leon was born with a congenital heart defect in Causeway Hospital in 2002 and a subsequent diagnosis confirmed he had a single ventricle and a narrow aorta.
The ten-year old, now in primary six, underwent four operations in total - one at eight months, three years and six years old. Throughout it all, Anne-Marie said the Children's Heartbeat Trust provided invaluable support to her family.
Last week's event, organised by Le Roy Dowey, Keith Miller and Pete Vamos, saw Ballymoney band 'Honeysuckle' perform.
Le Roy told The Chronicle they were allowed to open the Listening Post's doors to the public if they gave all proceeds to a charity and Heartbeat NI was one which caught their attention.
“It was nice to be able to tie in the idea of showcasing new music with a charity," he said. "Every time we run a gig we put out information about Heartbeat NI and every time a band plays, we make sure they know what Heartbeat NI do. We had two bands a night for about 20 weeks last year. The summation of that over the year meant we managed to raise £300. It was great to meet Anne-Marie. I just hope we can keep on going. It's been great fun."
Charity
Heartbeat NI is an independent charity which delivers emotional and practical support to parents and families of children with heart disease in Northern Ireland. It does this by providing financial support to the Clark Clinic at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children and by providing accommodation for parents.
The charity also provides parental support groups throughout the province, researches heart disease in children and provides support and information networks for parents.
Executive Officer with the charity, Sarah Quinlan, said: "Over 200 babies are born each year in Northern Ireland with a heart disorder and at least one third of these children will require further investigation or surgery."
“We're still trying to promote Heartbeat NI for families," Anne-Marie told The Chronicle. "There are two support people here to contact if there are any families in this area who have children with heart problems - myself and Marian Shaw. They would come to us if they wanted to talk."

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