“If it weren’t for Sheffield Children’s, our son wouldn’t be here. We owe everything to them”

Ollie was rushed to Sheffield Children’s emergency surgery when he was just two days old. Now aged 13, he and his family have committed to supporting the hospital.

Doctors were not certain, but believed Ollie to have a perforated bowel, and he had to have part of it removed.

Ollie’s mum, Laura, said: “We were taken into a room and told there was a chance he wouldn’t make it through the night. It was all such a shock.

“I sat with him all night, and a lovely nurse kept me company.”

His family was told he had Hirschsprung’s disease, which affects one in every 5000 people, and occurs when nerves do not grow in certain parts of the bowel.

Ollie was discharged after three weeks and went home to Worksop with his parents to meet his four older siblings for the first time.

In the following year he had two more surgeries to repair his bowel, and after a few more years of illness, his surgeon and parents decided the best option was a colostomy.

Ollie now has a stoma and continues to receive care at Sheffield Children’s.

Laura said: “He still has bad days, but I could never have dreamed when he was little that his life could be as good as it is.”

The family has taken on many fundraising challenges over the years: Ollie and his sister have held cake sales, Ollie completed a virtual 5K with his dad during the pandemic, and he even took part in #5forTheo alongside one of his footballing favourites, Barry Bannan.

Last month, Ollie and members of his football team, Worksop Town JFC Under 14’s Tigers, took on the Firehouse Fitness Mud Run.

Four of his friends and their dads laced up their running shoes to complete the race to support the Charity.

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Laura said: “You can see as you visit the hospital the difference that fundraising has made. We have been coming for years and the transformation is incredible. 

“The staff are brilliant, they care beyond caring. If it weren’t for Sheffield Children’s, he literally wouldn’t be here. We owe everything to them, so we try to give something back whenever we can.”

On April 28, Ollie’s dad, Gavin, is taking part in the Charity’s annual five-aside football tournament ‘Theo Cup’.

Laura and Gavin even gave Ollie the middle name Theo after the Charity’s mascot, Theo the bear.

To sign up your own Theo Cup team, email [email protected].