A man who was "hours away from dying" as a child at Alder Hey now raises money to give back to the hospital that saved his life.
Ian Shennan, from St Helens, was taken to Whiston Hospital by his mum Michelle Lever when he was around two years old, suffering with jaundice. After some tests, the toddler was rushed to Alder Hey and into the operating theatre -where he underwent a six hour surgery after it was discovered he had peritonitis.
Mum, Michelle, told the ECHO: "We took him to Whiston and they thought it was a chest infection at first, but rang Alder Hey as a precaution.
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"We weren't even allowed to go back home to collect anything, it was terrifying- he had to be taken straight to Alder Hey in an ambulance. The doctors said they'd give a couple hours to see if the medicine worked and then they'd have to "open him up".
"They came back and said if there had been a couple more hours of waiting, I would have lost my son. He had peritonitis and what had showed up on the x-rays was just puss, so Alder Hey saved him."
Now 35, Ian helps his mum raise funds for Alder Hey, by decorating their house extravagantly every year for Christmas, and Ian dresses up as Santa for the local children.
Michelle added: "At the minute it takes so much for families to take kids out to events and to see Santa but we do it for nothing. Last night a family came who also came last year and they ran up shouting Santa Santa, you can't put a price on seeing kids happy like that."
To support Michelle and Ian's fundraiser for Alder Hey Hospital, visit here.
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