A 10-year-old with a serious heart condition had his wish come true to go and see Liverpool play a match, thanks to a charity. And Archie Purnell enjoyed it so much he decided to fundraise for other youngsters so they could see their dreams realised.
Archie, who was was born with multiple heart defects, including a rare condition where his heart is the “wrong way around”, went to Anfield last year to see Liverpool play Everton in a day out organised by UK charity Make A Wish.
Now he has held a fundraising day for the charity, making £4,000. Archie said he felt "really good" to have raised £4000. He said: "My goal was £1000, so I was very happy with how much I raised. I'm hoping to give wishes to four children."
Archie’s mum, Donna Litten said that Archie became determined to raise funds so other children could also have a wish come true.
Referred to Make A Wish in 2019, Archie was allowed to list three wishes which were to go to Disneyland; or to meet celebrities Ant and Dec; or to watch a Liverpool match. but the pandemic disrupted the possibility of the first two. A keen Liverpool fan, Archie had only ever watched a match on television and so his wish to watch a live match came true in 2022.
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Archie said: "I loved going to watch Liverpool, it was amazing and it's definitely something I will always remember. I wanted other children to have their wish as well as me."
Donna said: “We got the train up and stayed in a hotel and were taken by coach to the match. It was amazing, that experience of watching his favourite team play. We couldn’t have asked for better.
“He enjoyed that so much. He turned around and said he wanted other children to feel like he had felt that day,” she said. With Archie at the forefront, a fun afternoon including bingo, raffles, a tombola and auction was organised at Hanham Community Centre on Saturday, April 8.
Donna said: “My amazing son has just raised £4,000 for charity. We are very proud of him. He loved every minute of raising the funds. ”
From the time he was born, Archie’s heart defects restricted his oxygen and he has had four open-heart surgeries. Donna said Archie has done extremely well coping with his heart defects and constantly has check-ups.
She said: “Since his last op, he’s done amazing. He’s going to school. He does get a bit tired, but he’s doing brilliantly.
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Community fundraiser for Make A Wish UK Geri St Julien said: “We're blown away by how special and kind-hearted Archie is. To want to raise money to give other critically-ill children a chance to have their wishes come true is a really beautiful thing.
“Every child deserves a childhood and the power of a wish can bring light and joy to children and their families and help create magical memories that last a lifetime. We hope Archie’s incredible fundraising efforts inspire others to raise money and help us grant many more wishes to come.”
Make A Wish UK grants life-changing wishes to children living with critical illnesses by empowering a child with the chance to choose a wish that's unique to them, to create hope, happiness and memories for the whole family to cherish. To help support Make-A-Wish UK make more magical wishes come true for the 63,000 children who have a life-limiting or life-threatening condition, visit its website.
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