Teenager Archie Veale is fronting a national campaign, run by Matalan, to raise funds for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital after the renowned children’s hospital saved his life.
Archie, 18 was flown to Alder Hey from his local hospital in the Isle of Man in March 2014 with a suspected infection. He was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit where he was left fighting for his life after the infection caused severe sepsis.
Archie said: “I was in danger of losing my legs. As I was losing so much fluid I had 18 litres of blood products poured into my veins, but thankfully I was sedated for three weeks.”
Thanks to the treatment he received at Alder Hey, after 16 weeks in hospital Archie eventually recovered. He is now taking part in a research study at Alder Hey which is looking at the genetic reasons behind potentially fatal infections, the leading cause of child deaths in the UK. Alder Hey works closely with the University of Liverpool as an established Centre of Excellence for Infectious Diseases.
Professor Enitan Carrol, Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at Alder Hey said: “Diagnosing sepsis early in children can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. The identification of rapid and reliable tests for sepsis is the holy grail of infection research.”
Archie said: “I wanted to do something for Alder Hey who worked so hard to help me. I wanted to make them proud.”
Family retailer Matalan has been raising money to help fund key research like this into infectious diseases that affect children in the UK.
The annual Christmas campaign has raised over ?1.3m since its 2014 launch. This year’s Get Your Stripes campaign with striped PJs follows on from the Alphabet Scarves and Beanie vs Bobble hats campaigns that were backed by celebrities including Justin Bieber and Britney Spears. This year’s campaign is supported by celebrities including Alesha Dixon, Anna Friel, George Lamb and Larry Lamb.
This year’s collection is all about celebrating festive family downtime with red, white and green stripe pyjamas perfect for everyone, even the dog. The range is now available in store and online with prices from ?2-?10 with 100% of profits going to the children’s charity.
To find out more about this years charity campaign and purchase a pair of your own PJ's to help raise money for Alder Hey children’s charity please visit Get Your Stripes.
