Hearts raised for tot

A CRANBOURNE North toddler and his heart condition are the inspiration behind a fundraiser for the Royal Children’s Hospital at Kids in Family Day Care in Beaconsfield.
Rishane Randeniya was diagnosed with hyperplastic left heart syndrome when his mum Angela was seven months pregnant – and at two and a half years old, the tot is fighting fit and keeping his mum on her toes.
And Angela says there are “no words” to describe the staff at the hospital.
“There are parents who have lost their babies during these operations, and surgery of this kind has only been available for 15 years,” she said.
“There are no words to describe the staff at Royal Children’s Hospital – they are great and try to make it as much like your home as possible, they are very comforting.”
The centre wanted to give something back for children across the state like Rishane, for a cause that is close to their hearts.
Angela is one of the centre’s day care educators.
Team leader Tammy Sparkes said they wanted to spread the word about family day care as an option to families and decided to have an open day or family fun day.
Bakers Delight is also supporting the fundraiser.
“We decided we wanted to make the day a little bit more meaningful by adding a fundraising element and who better to raise money for than the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, as one of our educators (Angela) has a little boy who attends the hospital and has done since birth,” she said.
“Our family fun day and fundraiser will have a jumping castle, sausage sizzle, face painting, art exhibition of artwork done by the children in the scheme, performance by children’s music program Hey De Ho as well as a raffle.”
Rishane will turn three in August and is waiting on a third operation on his heart.
“When I was seven months pregnant he was diagnosed as having hyperplastic left heart syndrome so during the week 20 scan they picked up something was wrong,” Angela said.
“I was overseas at the time and had to come back and go for another scan at Monash.
“It was found that his left ventricle in his heart was not developed like the right one, so the left is the one that does most of the work but his wasn’t functioning well.”
The website where people can donate is https://give.everydayhero.com/au/tammy-sparkes and the family fun day is on at the day care at 2-8 Windsor Drive, Beaconsfield, and will run from 11am until 3pm.