We are one of the lucky families as our son, Ben Aldred, survived his cardiac arrest which happened on 2nd October 2022 in Australia thanks to CPR, the swift use of a defibrillator and amazing care at Joondalup Hospital, Perth.
6 months after his cardiac arrest Ben decided to set up his MyHeart Fund to try and raise enough funds to initially screen his fellow team-mates and we kicked off the fundraising with a charity static bike ride where we kept the wheels turning for 7 days, 24hrs a day in July 2023. The response to our first event was incredible and we vowed to repeat the bike ride in July 2024, plus in March 2024 we held our first CRYket Dinner & Dance.
Our 2 main fundraising events in 2025 have been a 2nd CRYket Dinner & Dance which we held at Sidcup RFC along with our 3rd year of riding the static bike for 7 days!
Our Dinner and Dance was a huge success where we welcomed 140 guests for an evening of delicious food, supplied by Lee Trailor & his staff from ‘Bite Me’, fun and games hosted by our good friend David Pask who also ran the auction and then we danced the night away!
The event raised an incredible £15,070.38, which will enable us to fully screen a further 54 young sports men & women and we have already booked in our 3rd Dinner Dance for April 2026!
Our static bike ride once again took place in July 2025 during Bexley CC’s fabulous Cricket Week and we were as ever overwhelmed with the response and enthusiasm for the event.
The 30 minute cycling slots were booked up quickly, often in large chunks by groups of friends or local businesses and despite some very uncomfortable bike seats this year coupled with some pretty miserable weather it was a fun week!
Alongside raising funds for the screenings, we also took the decision to campaign for a defibrillator to be installed outside the cricket club & padel courts, and amazingly Adra Services Ltd., who were one of the companies, who supported us during the week with a full day of cycling donated enough funds for this to happen.
As well as our Dinner & Dance and Static Bike Ride we have also had some generous donations this year with a standout one being from ORR Mackintosh Foundation Ltd who donated £10,000 to CRY via Sharegift on behalf of Ben’s fund and this was shared between Ben’s fund and the main fund for CRY, which continues to do such incredible work in cardiac research and support for individuals and families.
To date we have screened 98 individuals, and our next screening will be held on 10th January 2026.
As a family we will continue to support CRY and raise funds and we feel incredibly blessed that 3 years on from his cardiac arrest, Ben continues to live a full and sporting life as he enters his 3rd year at university.