Walton Homes runners raise more than £1,000 for Violet’s Memorial Garden
17th June 2016
A Staffordshire developer has raised more than £1,000 to help fund a memorial garden being built to bring peace to bereaved parents.
A team of 10 runners from Walton Homes took part in the Sutton Fun Run last month, collecting sponsorship for Violets In Bloom, a charity working to open a garden at Lichfield and District Crematorium in Fradley.
Amy Summerton, director, was part of the team, and said: “Some of us are keener athletes than others but we were all familiar with the story of Violet Mornington, who died three years ago just a few weeks after her fifth birthday, and we felt that pounding the pavements for eight-and-a-half miles was a small price to pay to help us show our support to her parents and the project they have been working hard to bring about.”
Violet had complained of feeling off-colour on her birthday on June 3rd, but after three weeks of tests, she was diagnosed with Epstein Barr Virus associated Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and later, when she was unresponsive to treatment, doctors feared she had a rare blood disorder called HLH (Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis), a potentially fatal disease of the blood if not diagnosed and treated in time. She died on July 21st 2013.
Amy added: “Violet’s parents Ivan and Kerry have managed to develop something wonderful out of this tragic story.
“They’ve worked hard over the past three years to create a memorial garden where they can sit and remember their little one, and where other bereaved parents and siblings can do the same.
“The garden is due to open this month, and we wanted to raise funds to contribute to making it a beautiful, peaceful retreat for them. To date, we’ve raised £1,010, and we hope that this will help make this peaceful space a place of comfort for those who have lost their loved ones,” she said.