A team of serving police officers have climbed the highest mountain in the UK to support their Sergeant as his 16-month-old daughter waits for a life-saving heart transplant.
Little Beatrix Archbold, from Burnopfield, County Durham, fell ill last month with heart failure and fought back from a cardiac arrest. She then underwent surgery to attach her to a Berlin Heart Ventricular Assist Device, which does the work of her own failing heart.
Beatrix is currently waiting at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for a donor organ which will save her life. Doctors will need to keep her condition stable until a new heart becomes available. However sadly there is no guarantee that she will receive one.
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Her dad, Sergeant Terry Archbold, works within the Stanley Neighbourhood Beat Team at Durham Constabulary. Terry, 44, his wife Cheryl, 40, and Beatrix's sister Eliza, 11, have been raising awareness of child organ donation.
Six of Terry’s colleagues climbed to the summit of Ben Nevis in Scotland during their day off work on Monday. They took on the challenge to raise vital funds for The Red Sky Foundation, which supports families of youngsters who need vital cardiac care.
Terry climbed up the mountain himself earlier in the day and surprised them when they reached the top. He said: "I am so grateful to my team for wanting to get involved, to do what they have done means so much. The staff at the Freeman Hospital have also been amazing, as has The Red Sky Foundation, which is invaluable to families like ours, we cannot thank them all enough."
The Stanley Neighbourhood Police Team said they climbed the mountain to spread Terry's message about child organ donation. They said: "We arrived on the summit tired but determined, then out of the clouds appeared none other than Terry himself, he had climbed the mountain before us to be there when we got to the top to support us. We could not believe it and there may have been a tear or two. We are so grateful to everyone who has donated to this fundraiser and all we ask is that you spread the word about Child Organ Donation – please, have the discussion."
Terry and Cheryl, who lost their daughter Isabel when she was stillborn in 2018, initially thought Beatrix may have contracted covid-19 when she lost her appetite and became lethargic. The family had just returned from a trip to Disney World in Florida and Cheryl and Eliza had tested positive for the virus.
When a small rash appeared on the back of Beatrix's neck at the beginning of May, she was rushed in an ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead to be checked out. A doctor detected a heart murmur and chest x-rays revealed that one side of her heart was enlarged and not functioning properly.
The youngster was transferred to the Freeman Hospital where she had a Hickman Line inserted into her body so she could receive medication. During the procedure, Beatrix had a cardiac arrest and medics had to fight to bring her back.
She then underwent surgery to attach her heart to a Berlin Heart Ventricular Assist Device. The machine will enable her heart to function until she hopefully receives a transplant, which will save her life.
Terry said: "One day everything was normal and the next our lives were turned upside down in an unimaginable way. We have gone through every emotion possible, but we know we must be strong for Beatrix.
"No-one would ever want to be in the position in which we find ourselves, but this is our life until a suitable heart is found for our beautiful girl. Beatrix is a fighter and that gives us hope."
An online fundraising page, which has been set up in Beatrix’s name, has already raised more than £1,800 for the Red Sky Foundation.
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