Nearly 200 youngsters from Wood Ley Primary School, in Stowmarket, have helped to boost the Every Heart Matters appeal to the tune of £650.12.

East Anglian Daily Times: Pictured is Ella Rose Mingay with her brother William mother Michelle and her partner Liz CottonPictured is Ella Rose Mingay with her brother William mother Michelle and her partner Liz Cotton (Image: Archant)

That was the amount of money raised from three performances of their nativity plays.

Ninety children, aged five to seven, from Key Stage 1, staged their “Wriggly Nativity” while a further 90 from Key Stage 2 put on “A Tale of Two Birthday” in front of parents, friends and supporters at the school in Lowry Way.

And it all came about after head teacher Sandra Renwick saw the story of William Mingay in her local newspaper the Stowmarket Mercury.

The two-year-old was born with a congenital heart defect and one he will have to live with for the rest of his life.

East Anglian Daily Times: WSH Every Heart Matters campaign logoWSH Every Heart Matters campaign logo (Image: Archant)

He had a hole in his heart and no pulmonary value and underwent open heart surgery and a heart bypass just days after his birth. And he will also have to have further surgery when he gets older.

William, who lives with his five-year-old sister Ella Rose, a pupil at Wood Ley, mother Michelle Mingay and her partner Liz Cotton, in Spencer Way, Stowmarket, suffers from a rare illness called Tetralogy of Fallot. He has to have a routine echo cardiogram and electrocardiogram at the West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, to monitor his progress and was a patient at the hospital’s Rainbow Ward.

The appeal aims to raise £500,000 to build a brand new cardiac diagnostic unit at the hospital.

The West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is investing £5.2m in developing a state of the art cardiac suite that will provide quicker access to more treatments, but the £500,000 My WiSH Charity is hoping to raise will lead to the whole unit, which is currently fragmented on different floors, being brought together in one purpose-built centre.

Mrs Renwick said: “I saw the story about William and put the idea about raising money for the appeal to the school council and they thought it was a really good idea.

“The performances were based round the normal nativity but with a bit of a modern twist and the children were really good and did really well.”

If you would like to donate to the Every Heart Matters Appeal you can do so by going to Justgiving.com/ehma or text EHMA17 £10 to 70070.