Preston boy who suffered a cardiac arrest as a baby and has a hole in his heart completes mini-triathlon

Kai Saint, who spent 10 weeks in Alder Hey’s intensive care as a baby, and has had three open heart surgeries during his life, undertook the challenge in order to raise funds for the charity which “gave my mum and dad a home away from home”, his JustGiving page reads.

On Sunday morning, he completed a 50 metre swim at Fulwood Leisure Centre, then in the afternoon, he did a 1k run and a 1.5k bike ride at Moor Park, getting around the whole park in 15 minutes.

Speaking to the Post, Kai, who still has a hole in his heart and a leaky valve, said: “I was poorly in hospital so I was raising money for the Ronald Mcdonald House…[because] my mum and dad had to stay in the Ronald Mcdonald House.”

Kai’s mum, Chanel Crane, a 28-year-old student pediatric nurse said of her son’s impressive feat: “I cried the whole way, I cried when he was swimming and then I cried at the end, because when he got off his bike, he burst into tears, I think he was just overwhelmed because he is really aware of what it's for, and why he's done it, and people came to cheer him on as well. They spread out all the way around Moor Park, and he said every time he could see them, he would speed up running.”

The triathlon came about as every year, Kai and his mum take part in the cardiac charity Team 1c’s fundraising walk, however when they realised they were unable to this year, Kai decided he wanted to do his own fundraising challenge instead.

So far Kai has raised over £1300 with his triathlon, smashing his original £500 target, with more donations yet to come in.

Explaining the importance of the charity to the family, Chanel said: "“As a baby, he was quite poorly in Alder Hey for a long time, and during them 10 weeks, Ronald McDonald House gave me and his dad somewhere to stay because obviously Alder Hey’s quite a way away. So Kai did it to raise money for Ronald McDonald House, because he's very aware of his heart, and, everything that happened to him as a baby.

"When he was on intensive care, we got a phone call at 2am in the middle of the night, saying he was having a cardiac arrest, and we needed to be there, and if we weren't in Ronald Mcdonald house, we wouldn't have been able to. From Preston, it would have took us 45 minutes to get there.

“Luckily, they stabilised him, but at that point, when you're getting phone calls saying you need to come, it's not great, so we just know how important it is having that place to stay when your child's in hospital.”

To donate to Kai’s fundraiser, you can visit his JustGiving page here.