Andrew Hedges, who has been a retained firefighter for Ross-on-Wye for nearly 15 years, is preparing for some events in the upcoming weeks to raise money for a cause very close to his heart. On Friday, March 30th, Andrew has organised a charity bingo night which will take place at the Tudorville Community Centre between 7pm and 10pm.

This is to help fund his aim of raising £2000 for the British Heart Foundation, and prizes have been donated by friends and local businesses.

He will also be running the London Marathon in April to raise money for the charity.

This is a charity which means a great deal to his family as his son, Jake, was born with a heart condition and has had to have three open heart surgeries and multiple other procedures since he was born.

When he was ten months old, Jake had open heart surgery to replace the valve on his heart that wasn’t working properly and had the holes in his heart fixed too.

He has had to go through open heart surgery twice since then for valve replacements and loads of other slightly smaller procedures over the years. Jake will need the valve replaced again at some point in the future.

Jake is a happy, healthy teenager now and Andrew told the Ross Gazette that he believes this is partly because of the research and support the family has received from the British Heart Foundation.

Andrew has set up a just giving page for this cause; to view his page and to make a donation visit www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Hedges2See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.