The Head of Trevethin Lodge in Pontypool, Sean Penn, recently presented a cheque for £525 to the Daring to Dream charity. The charity was established in 2021 in memory of Sean’s niece, Amy, who tragically passed away in June 2021 from cardiac complications.
Amy Penn battled a chronic congenital heart condition from birth, and she had her first surgery as a Fontan patient at three days old. There was no one else in the world with a heart wired the same as Amy, which stopped any chance of a transplant, and she endured multiple open heart surgeries from a very young age. However, she never let her condition define her and found ways to turn her experiences into something to benefit others.
Following a tough year with health challenges in 2019, Amy, with the support of the Daring to Dream charity, decided to launch a fundraising venture to help provide the “little things that really matter”. This support included funding ward-based resources and activities specifically to help support the emotional well-being of young adult cardiac patients. Daring to Dream’s mission is to support the emotional health and well-being of adults living with physical illness in Wales.
Tragically, Amy passed away in June 2021, but her legacy lives on. Amy was determined to raise awareness of the need to support the emotional health and well-being of young cardiac patients, understanding through her own experiences the difference in their needs from those of other generations. Around 1 in 1000 children in the UK are born with a congenital heart disease, and for the first time, we are seeing more survive into adulthood.
Read more about Daring to Dream.
