Company bosses are 'delighted' to support the charity which provided a Mountain Goat driver a 'home from home'
The Yorkshire arm of Mountain Goat, a tour company based in the north of England, has announced its support of The Sick Children’s Trust with the hope to raise money so the charity can continue its amazing work.
In December, Lee Miles, one of the company’s longest serving driver guides, was preparing for a family Christmas with a new addition.
A week before the celebratory day his baby girl, Morgan, was born. Instead of the happy family holiday they were expecting Lee’s family were devastated to find out their gorgeous baby was fighting for her life suffering from a combination of extremely rare and dangerous heart defects.
Morgan was born suffering from congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries, ventricular septal defect, an Ebstein’s anomaly and a hypoplastic left ventricle and aortic arch.
Simply put Morgan’s heart was underdeveloped.
She was kept on life support machines to keep her heart and lungs pumping while specialists decided how to treat her.
At just three days old it was decided Morgan needed lifesaving heart surgery, surgery she was given less than a 50% chance of surviving.
The surgeon in charge said he had not seen anything like the combination of defects she was suffering from in over 20 years on the job.
After an agonising 12 hours the surgery was deemed as successful as it possibly could have been, although several more operations will be required as she grows up.
Seven weeks after the operation Morgan was allowed to go home, but Morgan’s dad, Lee, said those seven weeks we’re the most heart-breaking of his life.
Thankfully though Lee and his wife were able to stay by their daughter’s side thanks to Sick Children’s Trust, a nationwide charity which provides free accommodation to families with very sick children.
They were given what Lee described as “a home from home” just two minutes from Morgan’s bedside. It costs £30 per room per night to accommodate a family at one of the Trusts properties, Lee and his family stayed for 42 nights, totalling £1260.
The ability to stay so close to Morgan had a massive impact on Lee’s family, mentally, physically and financially. He said he felt so grateful that he wanted us at Mountain Goat to try return the favour.
Robin Tyson, operations director of Mountain Goat, said: “We are happy to help the Sick Children’s Trust through the Yorkshire arm of Mountain Goat. The trust provided our driver Lee with a place close by his baby girl when she was born, which was invaluable for him and his family.
“We hope our support will help the charity continue its amazing work providing accommodation for families who need to be by their children through the most difficult times.”
Mountain Goat will be adding a ‘donate’ button to all our Yorkshire tours and when clicked this will add £1 to your booking cost. This donation will allow families to be close to their children when they need them the most.
There will be a collection box on our Yorkshire tour buses as well.
Mountain Goat will also be making our own donation.