A heart surgery survivor who owes her life to a Newcastle hospital ward has donated Valentine's gifts to sick children who are receiving treatment.
Calli Tully, from Dudley, has been delivering gifts to Ward 23 at the Freeman Hospital in Heaton to celebrate Valentine's Day.
The 24-year-old said: “I have taken twenty personalised bags, with personalised teddy bears, love heart lollies, a balloon on a stick for each child and some big love heart balloons for the wards and PICU and Intensive care unit.
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“It is actually heart month and of course, Valentine's Day. I thought it was a little special to do for the heart unit!”
For the past eight years, Calli has been delivering gifts for patients during Christmas and recently during Easter.
Calli was hospitalised in December 2014 due to a hole in her heart where she had to have an emergency open-heart surgery.
She experienced her first ever Christmas away from home but the staff on the ward made her and the other young patients feel like they were not missing out on the festive spirit.
Since then, Calli wanted to thank the ward for all their efforts to save her when she was in a critically ill condition.
She said: “I did raffles to raise the funds for the gifts. The nurses were absolutely overwhelmed that I had done something so amazing again, and the parents have sent me some lovely photos and messages.”
A parent of little girls on the ward said: “Can’t even begin to tell you what this means to us. Thank you so much. My daughters are just in recovery and it’s totally brightened our day.”
Another parent of a young patient said: “Thank you so much for my little girl's gifts, she absolutely loved them and this has made today that little easier in these hard times.”
Calli added: "It takes a simple act of kindness to brighten up someone else’s day, always try to be a rainbow in someone else’s clouds, as someday you might need someone to be your rainbow."
Calli said: “I definitely plan to do Valentine’s Day again in the future but my next mission is Easter now!”
If you would like to donate to Calli’s Easter campaign, visit: https://gofund.me/42c8d0a8
