Perse pupils relate personal impact of non-uniform day cause

Year 7 pupils Abishaun and Jessie have personal reason for hoping tomorrow’s Perse non-uniform day raises lots of money for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

The renowned London children’s hospital was selected by the school’s Charities Committees as the cause for the year group’s annual home clothes event after each Year 7 form recently held fundraising stalls for charities of their choice.

Form 7L’s ‘Sponge the Teacher’ stall in aid of GOSH proved especially popular, with the charity being chosen with their class members Abishaun and Jessie in mind.

Abishaun and Jessie are delighted that GOSH will be the recipients of money raised from the non-uniform day, which it is hoped will top £2,000, having had vital heart and lung operations respectively at the hospital.

Aged two, Abishaun had surgery to have his aortic valve widened before returning to GOSH aged 10 for a further operation, known as a Ross procedure, in which the pulmonary valve is moved into the aortic valve position and other tissue is used to make a replacement pulmonary valve.

Although Jessie was born with two lungs, one was underdeveloped, causing her breathing problems, so she had an operation to remove the affected lung at the age of two-and-a-half.

Both still receive treatment at GOSH with Abishaun having annual check-ups and Jessie having bronchoscopy and bronchogram surgeries every one to two years to widen her airways.

Abishaun said: “They are incredibly kind and supportive and they’ve helped me so much, but they’ve also been very helpful and supportive to my family as well, which is very important.”

Jessie commented: “They’ve supported me throughout my life and because of this operation, it has only had a minor impact on me.

“They’re really nice and tell me all about what’s going to happen every time I go back. When I was younger, they had a play specialist who would also spend time with me.

“I’m really pleased the non-uniform day will raise money for Great Ormond Street because it relates to me personally and they do a lot of advanced surgery compared to some other hospitals.”

Abishaun added: “Great Ormond Street is so important because a lot of children might not otherwise get the surgery they need, so they save lots of lives.”