PRIDE OF BIRMINGHAM AWARDS 2023: FAMILY WHO RAISED FUNDS FOR ONCOLOGY WARD AMONG WINNERS

A family from Lichfield who have raised over £330,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and a further £20,000 for charity, have been honoured with a ‘Triumph Over Adversity’ award at the Pride of Birmingham Awards 2023.

At the age of just four,  the youngest member of the Chatting family, Carter, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, forcing him to undergo three and a half years of treatment before being declared cancer-free.

Inspired by the doctors, nurses and volunteers at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Carter’s family – mum Lucy, dad Matthew, and sister Monica – established their charity, Carter The Brave.

Since being established, the charity and their fundraisers have so far raised £334,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s oncology ward and to fund research into childhood leukaemia. They have also funded equipment such as mobile entertainment units for children in isolation, a hands-free communications system, IV vein finders, mobile ear and throat devices, DVD players and DVDs, and Amazon vouchers.

On top of the funds raised for Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the family have also donated £8,000 to Round Table Children’s Wish, which helps fulfil the dreams of children with cancer who are either critically or terminally ill. More recently, Carter himself raised a further £12,000 by completing at 10k run and doing a sponsored head shave.

To honour their incredible fundraising efforts, The Chatting Family will receive a ‘Triumph Over Adversity’ awardat the BirminghamLive Pride of Birmingham Awards with TSB 2023 this evening.

The event is being presented by Kym Marsh, who comments: “This is such an amazing group of winners. Their courage, selfless dedication, inspiration and kindness are exactly what the world needs right now. Hearing their incredible stories can’t fail to inspire you, and restore your faith in humanity. I can’t wait to meet them.”

BirminghamLive Pride of Birmingham Awards with TSB returns for another year and will welcome star-studded guests including Strictly Come Dancing’s Amy Dowden, Love Island’s Alex and Olivia Bowen, actor David Bradley, and musicians Ruby Turner and Tony Iommi, to name a few.

Other winners include:

  • Child of Courage: Finley Hassall, aged 11 from Kingswinfoord – saved a boy’s life using the RNLI’s ‘Float To Live’ technique.
  • Stephen Sutton Inspiration Award: Eva Abley, aged 14 from Cannock – a teenager with cerebral palsy who made it to the finals of Britain’s Got Talent with her comedy routine
  • Emergency Services Award: Deena Evans and Michael Hipgrave, aged 41 and 52 from Wolverhampton – two paramedics who were attacked by a knifeman when attending a wellness check with the police.
  • Outstanding Contribution: Chris Hoare, aged 75 from Edgbaston – formed the Birmingham Southwest Community Group in the early noughties to reform his crime-ridden estate.
  • Lifetime Achievement: Reverend Canon Eve Pitts from Birchfield, Birmingham – made The Church of England’s first black female vicar in 1994, and has since spent decades supporting parishioners, challenging racism, and calling out institutional prejudice in her own faith.
  • TSB Community Hero: Asha Rage, aged 45 from Small Heath – set up Dream Chasers FC in Small Heath to help get young people off the streets, which now has 160 players training weekly.
  • Special Recognition Award: Dawn Astle, 55 from Swadlincote –Daughter of the former West Brom and England striker Jeff Astle, who died when he was 59 from early onset dementia. She launched the Jeff Astle Foundation in 2015 to raise awareness of brain injury in sport.
  • Special Recognition Award: Delores and Hector Pinkney, 71 and 70 from Handsworth – established the UK’s first independent Black organisation, The African Caribbean Self-Help Organisation, and the Dojo Project, which helps elderly people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
  • Spirit of Birmingham: The Commonwealth Games Volunteers – the army of 14,000 volunteers, without whom the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games couldn’t have happened.

On their partnership with the awards, Jodie O’Leary, Customer Services Director at TSB, said: “At TSB, we pride ourselves on being at the heart of the communities we serve, and the Pride of Birmingham awards are all about recognising the everyday heroes in those communities. As a proud Brummie myself, it is a huge honour to be part of the judging panel and is truly a humbling and heart-warming experience to hear the amazing stories behind every one of the nominees.”

The Birmingham Live Pride of Birmingham Awards with TSB is available to watch from 9 March, via the official Pride of Britain social media channels: @prideofbritain. To find out more, visit: www.prideofbritain.com/birmingham.

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