The inspirational achievements of remarkable young people from across the North East have been celebrated at the annual Children of Courage Awards at the Newcastle Gateshead Hilton in May.
Organised and supported for the fourth year by the St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, the awards were split over two age categories (under 12 and 13-17 years old), and presented in six categories: Outstanding Bravery, Fundraising Award, Special Recognition, Young Carer of the Year Award, Sporting Achievement, and the Care Team Award – to a team for care and support above and beyond expectations.
A Special Recognition Award went to 17-year-old Sophie Balmer from Walker who is a volunteer tutor and befriender at Newcastle based charity Success4All. She supports children and young people from low socio-economic backgrounds, and acts as a positive role model. In addition, Sophie has also supported the delivery of Success4All’s Summer School in the summer of 2021 where more than 100 children and young people attended over the summer holidays.
Sophie is passionate about tackling food poverty and fighting societal inequality and uses her voice to influence policy change at the highest level. She recently attended a Parliament event to shed some light on what life is like for those at the forefront of hunger, and the educational disadvantages food poverty brings.
Also receiving a special recognition award was 8-year-old Chanel Murrish from Seaham.
Chanel was Born with the rare heart condition Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and given a 5% survival rate. She became the World’s Youngest Open Heart Surgery Patient at only one minute old.
She has had 23 surgeries and procedures including four open heart surgeries, a cardiac arrest / major stroke resulting in cerebral palsy to her left side and epilepsy. All of Chanel’s surgeries are classed as palliative and the family have been told she will need a heart transplant.
Despite this, Chanel takes part in multiple charity fundraising events each year. She sells charity bracelets, raises money for and delivered gifts to children in hospital every Christmas Eve since she was born and to date has raised over £10,000 between the British Heart Foundation and The Children’s Heart Unit Fund. She also spreads awareness of the importance of Organ Donation through Social-Media.
Winner of a fund-raising award is 15-year-old Leo Armstrong from Middlesbrough.
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Leo has been supporting Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) since he was eight years old. In 2015 he did a sponsored bike ride round his local area, and in 2017 he abseiled down Roseberry Topping.
Leo’s passion for GNAAS led to a school project to help raise awareness of the charity and during the first lockdown he dressed up as a hot dog and walked up and down Roseberry Topping 13 times in 12 hours.
In total he’s raised more than £3,000 from his fundraising activities.
Another fundraising winner is Sonny Wetherell aged 11 from Gateshead.
To celebrate his tenth birthday Sonny decided to run 1km every day for 10 days in his garden in 100 x 10 metre lengths every day. This wasn’t an ordinary physical challenge because each day he dressed up as a character from one of David Walliams’ books. This caught the attention of David Walliams who donated £1,000 on Sonny’s JustGiving page. Sonny’s original fundraising target was £100 but he managed to raise £3,071.
The Care Team Award was presented to Morpeth based Northumberland Disability Youth Forum, a group of young people, aged 11 to 19 years old who all have a disability. The forum started during the 1st covid lockdown where they met weekly over zoom. Since then, the group have won two awards at the NE Youth Projects with Pride Awards.
The group started as Calmer Buddies, offering peer to peer support, and raising money for various charities and charitable causes. In May 2020 they formed Northumberland Disability Youth Forum, with the aim to be a greater voice for all children in Northumberland who have an additional need, disability, or mental health need. They’ve helped with their local food bank and supported their peers via social media. They have also become young leaders, volunteering at summer camp, supporting young disabled children many who are from low-income families.
They are currently working on two projects, creating two “busy boards” for Dementia Matters and organising a gaming convention, Calmer Con Gaming Event, where they are inviting young people who have a disability living in Northumberland, to come along, have fun and find out what is available to them in their area.
Two sporting awards went to Middlesbrough Powerchair Football Club teammates 14-year-old James Found from Stokesley and 12-year-old Kyle Forster from Darlington who both have a physical disability called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). DMD is a life limiting condition; where all muscles in the body will become weak over time, including breathing muscles.
Both players are natural powerchair football players. They have worked both worked their way up through Middlesbrough Powerchair Football Club’s three teams and both are now key players in the Club’s First Team: playing not only in the North East Regional League but also playing at the National League Championship Division. Their determination and enthusiasm are contagious, spurring their team mates on to be the best they can be too.
Both have been put forward to join the England FA’s under 18 training camps. James attended his first England training camp recently and the FA coaches were very impressed.
Young Carers awards went to 16-year-old Amy McCoy from North Shields and Tynemouth siblings Pennie (10) and Arabella Hodgson (11).
Amy a student at St Thomas More Catholic High School recently put together an assembly for her fellow students to raise awareness about what a young carer is and how things for a young carer’s life are different. She also highlighted the boundaries and obstacles they can have in school and home so that her peers could understand her viewpoints. Amy is also on the forum group at the Young Carer centre in North Tyneside and is actively involved in activities and events there.
Arabella and Pennie are big sisters to 7-year-old Lysbeth who has a rare condition known as Rett Syndrome. Rett Syndrome is a complex neurological disorder that has left her profoundly disabled and she needs round-the-clock care.
Lysbeth’s condition is ever present on Arabella’s and Pennie’s minds. They are aware that being physically disabled does not mean that Lysbeth is unable to learn. They talk to their sister constantly, they involve her, always make her feel part of everything. They ask her questions which Lysbeth answers by a direct look for ‘Yes’ and looking away for ‘No’. This requires much time and patience as Lysbeth’s involuntary movements make a quick response difficult. They further help with Lysbeth’s development by teaching her letter sounds and to spell. They use boards and flip books so that she can choose letters for spellings. They have helped her write words, sentences and even poems and short stories. They use Lysbeth’s eye gaze device and model language to her – all of which help Lysbeth on her huge communication journey.
An outstanding bravery award went to Daniel Hassan aged 14 years old from Heaton in Newcastle. Passionate about sport, especially running, athletics, badminton, and football, Daniel was one of the finest junior runners in the Heaton Harriers Running Club as well as completing his football refereeing course until his illness struck.
Tragically, in December 2020 Daniel collapsed from pain at home and within two hours he was paralysed from the waist down. He was admitted to the Great North Children’s Hospital and was diagnosed with Acute Transverse Myelitis. After a lengthy hospital stay, Daniel decided that he wanted to give something back and began fundraising for both the Newcastle Hospitals Charity and the Newcastle United Foundation.
From the week he was discharged from hospital until the date of the Great North Run and his 15th birthday, he aimed to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps per week. Despite setbacks and Daniel now being unable to stand or walk he smashed his target raising £6000 for his chosen charities.
Also winning a bravery award is 11-year-old James Alex Spence from West Denton.
Born 10 weeks premature, James has had 12 operations and been in intensive care three times on a ventilator and in an induced coma. He has had pneumonia twice and numerous chest infections as well as chronic lung disease.
Sadly, his mother fell ill with Ovarian Cancer and James has helped with housework, learning to use the microwave and toaster. etc. Despite his own issues he still smiles after everything he has been through and the worries’ he has surrounding his mam’s illness.
St James’ Place Newcastle’s charity of the year was the Toby Henderson Trust who received a cheque for £10,000.
Mark Beverly, who volunteers as Chair on the St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation Newcastle Committee, said: “It is very humbling to see these inspirational young people who have shown amazing courage in their difficult lives. An award isn’t enough to honour their courage and we should all take heart and motivation from these remarkable young people who succeed in what they are doing despite the obstacles placed in their way.”
All Photography by Dan Aziz
PR and Media keith@highlightsPR.co.uk 07814 397951