A GENEROUS ten-year-old from Efailwen, has donated his birthday money to British Heart Foundation Cymru's (BHF) lifesaving research.

Llew John has first-hand experience of just how important this research can be; he was born with a heart condition and underwent his first open-heart surgery when he was just nine days old.

He has had two further open-heart surgeries, the last one in June 2017. Llew has never allowed his condition to determine what he can or cannot do and lives a very full and active life thanks to the vital research carried out by the BHF.

Llew decided that he wanted to ask his friends for a donation to BHF on his tenth birthday to help research carried out by BHF to help fight for every heartbeat.

"We asked Llew what he wanted for his birthday," said his mother Ffion. "And he said that he would like to ask his friends to donate money to BHF rather than give him a gift.

"Llew asked specifically to donate his birthday money to BHF as everyone with heart conditions would benefit from this donation. As a result of this, his friends and family, also decided that they would donate part of their birthday money to BHF."

"I wanted to give something back to BHF as I am fit and enjoy playing so many sports including my favourite sport which is football," said Llew. "I was so delighted with the amount raised and I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped and supported."

In total a wonderful £425 was raised to help BHF research and Mr Hearty, the BHF mascot, came to thank the children for all their help and support.

"It was a pleasure to meet Llew and his family and friends to thank them for all their help and support they have given to BHF," said Jayne Lewis Fundraising Manager South West Wales. "Thank you to all the children, the families and in particular a big thank you to Llew and his family for all their support.

"Thanks to Llew and his family and friends in the area we'll be able to fund even more research into these conditions."