Super-twin aiming for four-in-a-row at Dragon Boat Festival!
Ahead of this year’s Dragon Boat Festival, we caught up with Simon Donald, of Liv’s Donald Ducks – three times winners of the Dragon Boat Festival – to see how he was feeling ahead of this year’s event, and to ask him about his little girl Liv, who was admitted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in 2019, on the day she was born, due to a congenital heart block.
After being rushed to Alder Hey, Liv was given a micro pacemaker which kicks in if her heartbeat drops too low. She was cared for by the nurses until fit enough to go home to her twin sister Ruby and big brother Teddy.
Your little girl Liv was brought to Alder Hey when she was born and has received ongoing treatment since then, including surgery. How is Liv getting on now?
She’s doing great! So well. She’s a twin and she’s now taller than her sister, which considering how poorly she was is testament to how far she’s come. She used to struggle on her Alder Hey visits, because it can be really daunting for someone so young, but we worked with the Play Specialists and now she really loves her visits, and even looks forward to them. All the staff make her feel so special, and she tells everyone about her visits to her special hospital. It’s been quite the U-turn, so I’d like to thank all the staff, in particular the Play Specialists on the Oncology ward Lorna O’Brien and Ashlee Green.
My main aim was to make Liv’s hospital visits more positive. One of the ways we did this was by Liv role-playing the procedures she was due to have on her doll. Over time, Liv found her visits to the hospital more positive and it’s lovely to hear that she now looks forward to her clinic visits. It was a pleasure working with Liv and her family and it’s lovely to hear how much they have done for the Alder Hey Children’s Charity. I wish them lots of luck for this year’s Dragon Boat Festival.
Lorna O'Brien - Senior Health Play Specialist
Liv will always be under Alder Hey’s care, but we’ve had some really positive results in recent visits. Michael Bowes (Paediatric Cardiology Consultant) – another staff member that we cannot praise enough – has been really pleased with her progress in the past few visits. They’ve reduced the output on the pacemaker that she had fitted to reserve battery, meaning hopefully Liv can go through her education without getting it changed. The pacemaker connects to an app on our phones so that we can constantly keep an eye on what’s going on.
You’re coming back to the Dragon Boat Festival for a fourth year – potentially for a fourth win. This event clearly means a lot to you, can you tell me a bit more about that?
We participated in the inaugural year back in 2019, when it was at the Queen’s Dock in the city centre. We didn’t know what we were doing at all, didn’t know what to expect, but we went along for a bit of fun and to raise money. It wasn’t long after Liv and Ruby were born, and so Alder Hey had recently become such a huge part of our lives.
We ended up getting to the final and won it by literally inches. It was such a buzz and just really exciting. It’s a great event because although individual racing and competing is so much fun, when there’s 17 of you in the boat, winning a race as a unit and as a team feels really unique and something that not that many people get to experience. I love team sport, and winning as a team brings a lot of adrenaline.
For the second year we really worked on our technique – we realised it’s all about rhythm, timing and staying together as a team. Of course, that can all go out the window when it comes to it, but if you can stay in unison (think Vikings!) you’ll do so much better than just chucking all your muscle at it. We have an even split of men and women in our team, we’re all in our mid-late 30s, and don’t particularly look like the team that will turn up and win, but we’ve been friends for years, work well as a unit and are super competitive.
The next year it moved to Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre, which is such an amazing venue and worth the day out in itself. The day generally is just lovely – there’s food on, fun day activities for the kids. It’s more about the day out and the fundraising than the winning of course, but that competitive element is great.
I hear that you always bring an army of supporters with you – it must mean a lot to you and make a big difference on the day?
We always have of loads of support. All our family come along, all the kids, extended family members, family friends. We set up a little camp with camping chairs in the middle of it all, and everyone takes turns looking after the kids whilst we’re off racing. We manage to raise a good chunk of money each year with those of us racing and all the support that we have around us. Our support network are really invested and want to see how we get on, which really helps when it comes to fundraising. Plus, everyone likes a winning team!
Who will be making up the rest of Liv’s Donald Ducks this year?
There’s aunties and uncles from both sides, Liv’s godparents, and so many of our best friends that we’ve known since we were Liv’s age and have grown up together. They’ve all got partners and kids now too, so it’s just a whole gang of us.
Out of all of the amazing events and challenges you can participate in for Alder Hey, why do you choose the Dragon Boat Festival year on year?
It’s the team camaraderie. Like I say, we’ve got such a big group of friends and family who have supported along the way and who love getting involved, so it’s great to have everyone competing together for one cause. We’ve done individual challenges in the past few years too. Our friend Matt Jump ran 5K every day for a year, and other people have raised individually, but we love the big team day out. It’s become a date in the diary as soon as its released and is the perfect reason for us all to get together to support a great cause.
And finally, are you confident for the win?
Always confident for the win! We’ve won it three years in a row, and although the most important thing is raising money and awareness for Alder Hey, once we’re in the boat we’re going for the win. It’s the only way to do it!