Sunderland heart transplant girl Beatrix Archbold helps other children by paying it forward

Grieving families, poorly children and theft victims are getting a massive boost thanks to a new cause set up in tribute to a heart transplant girl from Wearside.

Bea's 500 Crew - named after Beatrix Archbold, two - was only formed 10 weeks ago.

It has already helped a family who lost everything in a house fire, and supported a mum who was in hospital fighting cancer for a second time.

It helped the parents of a premature baby who was living in special care and back grandparents who took on three children after their mum died.

So far, 215 people have joined Bea's 500 Crew but there is space available for up to 500 people.

Beatrix's mum Cheryl Archbold said: "Bea's 500 Crew was set up based on the notion of a lot of a little can make a BIG difference.

"The simplicity of 500 people each paying in £1 a week to help others has delivered some staggering results already.

"So far there are 215 people that have joined."

Members of Bea's 500 Crew pay money into a pot at £1 a week.

Cheryl wanted to make a difference after her family got so much support while Beatrix was in hospital.

Beatrix spent 14 months at the Freeman in Newcastle while she waited for a new heart.

Cheryl was already a member of a similar group called Friends 500 based in Merseyside.

"When we were discharged from hospital, I immediately knew that I wanted to replicate the group in the North East."

Beatrix’s own story unfolded in May 2022.

The Archbold family had returned from a trip to Disney World in Florida and they thought Beatrix caught Covid.

14 months on a hospital ward

She had stopped drinking, had a rash on her neck and the family dialled 111.

After going to A&E, a doctor at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead detected a heart murmur. Tests showed one side of her heart was enlarged and not functioning properly.

She had an operation to fit a line into her body so she could receive medication but she had a cardiac arrest and was saved by expert surgeons at the Freeman Hospital who performed open heart surgery.

Beatrix then spent 14 months at the Freeman before she and her family's lives were changed once more in June this year.

She walked off the ward to a guard of honour

Cheryl, from Roker, and dad Terry, shared a video with the Echo of the moment they told their daughter that she was going to have a heart transplant.

Beatrix replied by holding her cuddly toy and saying she was going to 'be better'.

She went home just weeks later to cheers, tears and a guard of honour.

But Beatrix was back in hospital last month when she picked up an infection in her Hickman line (a tube which feeds into her vein) and also tested positive for Covid-19.

She went home after surgery to remove the infected line and with a course of antibiotics.

To find out more about Bea's 500 Crew, visit here.