Crawley charity football tournament and car wash in support of young boy’s heart surgery

Gabriel Silva was diagnosed with a large tumour in his heart shortly after he was born, a condition that only five children in the UK have.

At six-months-old, he developed life-threatening tachycardia arrhythmia which was caused by bronchitis.

Gabriel has ongoing respiratory infections due to the mass pressing on the airway of the lungs.

Mum Lina Griciute, and Dad Rafael Silva need to raise £140,000 to help cover Gabriel’s heart operation and expenses in the USA.

To help raise the needed money, the parents of Gabriel have set up a charity football tournament and car wash.

Miss Griciute said: "In May 2021 I gave birth to our third boy, Gabriel, and our family was complete. The day was full of happiness and joy until we received the devastating news that our beautiful newborn baby had a large tumour in his heart (Left Ventricle Fibroma - only a handful of people have been diagnosed in the UK with this condition).”

“Boston Children's Hospital has quoted us £140K for “debulking or re-sectioning of the ventricular fibroma”. The cardiac surgeons in Boston have done this operation several times and are confident that they can drastically improve or even cure our little angel, Gabriel.

"As his parents, Rafael and I hope that you will be able to share this fundraising page, share Gabriel’s story and if possible, make a donation. As a family we are not able to raise this money on our own but any donation will allow us to be one step closer.

Mr Silva said: “I would like to ask your readers if they could help us and get as many people as possible coming to the event.”

The charity football tournament will take place at 4 The Hamleys, Pease Pottage, Crawley, RH11 9BX (10:00am - 16:00pm).

The charity car wash, which will be attended by a fireman, will take place at Warwick house, Reynolds Road, Crawley RH11 7HA (10:00am-16:00pm)

If you wish to help Gabriel, you can donate to his GoFundMePage here, or visit his website at: https://www.savegabriel.com/

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