A PENARTH family are raising money for the children’s ward that helped their baby through a severe open-heart surgery.

“A Day for Mistie”, a community event, is being organised by Stephanie Gammon, of Tennyson Road, Penarth.

Her daughter, one-year-old Mistie-Fleur Jones, had an operation to fix a series of complicated heart conditions.

Now Miss Gammon wants to give back to the hospital that gave her daughter a new lease of life.

She will be raising for the charity Above and Beyond, which serves hospitals in Bristol City Centre.

“We’ll be hosting an event on August 31 to give something back to the people that helped treat Mistie,” Miss Gammon said.

“We’ve known she had heart problems for some time before she was born, but it’s still hard. It’s been quite a rollercoaster.

“Mistie’s a year old now, and she actually had her birthday in hospital at the end of June.”

It was a long stay in the hospital waiting for and recovering from surgery, both for Mistie-Fleur, and for her family.

“We started with Mistie in the Heath [hospital] and then she ended up in Bristol, where the surgery took place,” said Miss Gammon.

“She was in for a total of 54 days – it was hard work, with us travelling back and forth every day to Bristol.”

But the family know it was worth it.

Miss Gammon said: “The surgery worked – it’s the best thing we could ask for.

“It all went very smoothly, so she won’t have to have any more surgeries for now.

“I’m so pleased with Above and Beyond, enabling us to donate directly to the ward.

“And we’ve been impressed by absolutely everything the hospital and the ward have done for Mistie, rather than anything specific – we just wanted to give something back to the staff there, so they can spend it on presents or toys or equipment needed for the other children. They really are excellent.”

A Day for Mistie will include a raffle, a bouncy castle, face paint, tattoos, ice cream and more.

It will be held on Tennyson Road-Green at 2pm on Saturday, August 31.