Thirty staff to walk, cycle and row and ride their way from Stafford to Liverpool in aid of heart charity

Thirty members of staff from Fisher German's Stafford office will be making the 88-mile journey tomorrow (Friday) to help raise a target of at least £25,000 for a total of 25 charities to celebrate the company's silver jubilee.

Among the charities is Little Hearts Matter, which provides help to children with the single ventricle heart condition. The company has agreed to match any funds they raise, potentially taking the total to be shared between the charities to £50,000.

Little Hearts Matter was chosen after Helen Spence, a senior accounts manager at the Stafford office, spoke of her own first-hand experience after her grandson Thomas Day was born with half a working heart.

Now nine, Thomas has undergone major surgery on numerous occasions. He was just one month old when a stent was fitted to his heart, and he received open-heart surgery at the age of 16 months.

Helen said: "Thomas is a happy, wonderful boy who loves swimming, horse riding and playing football.

“Thomas gets very tired and has a wheelchair now when I pick him up every night from school because he can’t manage to walk home.

“Sometimes he gets nervous, and he has counselling from Dougie Mac Hospice in Stoke every two weeks when a lovely lady comes to school to talk to him because he gets worried about the procedures he has to have at hospital.

“The support Thomas and his family have had from Little Hearts Matter has been fantastic. He takes part in online chats so that he knows he is not the only child with this."

Michelle Wilson, on behalf of the company, said the trek formed part of a 2,400-mile relay between its 25 offices. She said that staff would be horse-riding, kayaking walking and unicycling their way to Liverpool, stopping off at Chester Zoo along the way.