Portsmouth Sailor Presents Cheque To Hospital That Saved Sons Life

The fund raising was made possible by the drive and initiative of one of the Petty Officers’ Messes on board. Fund raising events included a charity film night, penny for the guy, quiz nights and a raffle.

The Mess choose Friends of PICU as one of their members, Petty Officer Karl Spurr, had received fantastic support from the charity when his son was in Southampton PICU in March 2010.

Six hours after he was born, Petty Officer Spurr’s son, James, was admitted to Southampton PICU for emergency life-saving heart surgery after being diagnosed with Transposition of the Great Arteries TGA.

He underwent a successful operation to correct the arteries when he was just five days old. James returned home safe and well after a further five days recovering in the PICU, much to delight of his proud parents Karl and Vicky.

Petty Officer Spurr, who lives with his family in Portsmouth, said:

“Thanks to the work of Friends of PICU, we were able to be accommodated and fed at the hospital so that we could be with our son during his recovery stage.

"To show my gratitude to the unit for saving my son’s life I volunteered as the mess charity rep to raise funds for the unit that helped my family.

"I want to thank all of the crew of Illustrious for their donations over the last six months and am proud to be able to hand over a cheque for £700 pound to the charity.”

The cheque was presented by Petty Officer Spurr to Rosie Mitchell at Southampton PICU. As well as being a Staff Nurse on the Unit, Rosie is also the founder of the charity Friends of PICU. 

Friends of PICU are a registered charity, set up in 2006 by nursing staff and parents of children who have been cared for on PICU. Their aim is to support the children and their families, by providing vital equipment and services that are not normally provided by the statutory authorities.

The charity maintains the family accommodation on the unit, which has recently undergone a major refurbishment program.

HMS Illustrious has just come through the challenges of Operational Sea Training and is primed to the highest level to undertake its duty as the UK’s high-readiness carrier. The ship will soon undertake training with the Royal Marines and embarked helicopter squadrons.