A massive thank you to Matt King and all involved with the King of Hearts festival for raising money in aid of Dryden ward [caption id="attachment_2643" align="aligncenter" width="980"] Matt and Tara King presenting a cheque from the King of Hearts fundraising to Edrina Sutherland and Chris Mallon[/caption] We would like to send a huge thank you to Matt King and everyone involved with the King of Hearts festival for raising more than £1,500 in aid of Dryden ward.
King of Hearts is an annual one-day music event inspired by and dedicated to Matt’s brother, Rob.
Rob was diagnosed with cardio-myopathy when he was 16 and following a heart transplant, he went on to inspire everyone around him until he was 29.
The festival celebrates the enjoyment of life and living to its fullest with one of Rob’s greatest loves, music and live bands.
The festival is hugely supportive of local bands and artists and we are so grateful that this year they chose to support Dryden ward at the hospital.
The reason for this was that friend, Pablo (Paul Tyson) had some personal experience on Dryden back in 2017.
Pablo spent a few weeks being cared for on the ward while he was waiting to be transported for heart surgery.
He shared how the care he received from the staff on Dryden was fantastic and that he felt the amazing work they do is overlooked and under-appreciated.
As well as raising money on the day with all the brilliant local live music at the event itself, Matt’s employer Smurfit Kappa very kindly donated £500 towards the cause.
The activities didn’t stop there though, with Matt himself shaving not only his head a few weeks prior to the festival, but his beard as well!
One’s beard is sacred so this was a big commitment to the fundraising and helped raise a good chunk online.
Matt came in with his wife Tara to present a cheque to Ward Sister Edrina Sutherland and Directorate Manager Chris Mallon.
They were able to have a chat about the festival, which one of the ward staff attended and about the wonderful dedicated care Pablo received while he was a patient.
Our thanks also go to everyone who kindly donated so generously on the day raising £466.69, but to everybody who helped reach the amazing total of £1,552.94!