HEREFORDSHIRE teenager Charlie Tobey has succeeded in raising more than £85,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital with the help of family and friends.

Charlie’s parents, Rachel and Chris Tobey from Woolhope spent an anguished three months at the hospital where their son, 16 this month, went on to receive his third liver transplant.

Incredibly, he has now returned to school, and enjoys a normal life.

His grateful family decided to raise funds for the hospital with a charity ball in June.

Hoping to reach an “ambitious” total of £40,000, Charlie’s mother said they were delighted to be able to hand over more than double that amount for the hospital’s much-needed work.

“We are so lucky to have that place only an hour away,” said Rachel. “Charlie has been really lucky to have had the same surgeon and consultant since he was a baby.”

Born at Hereford County Hospital in 2000, it soon became apparent that Charlie was very sick, she explained. “Following his transfer to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, we were told that Charlie would die within a week if he did not receive a liver transplant.”

At just 14 days old, he received a transplant and went on to have a thriving, active childhood.

“However, in 2009, he started to reject his donated liver,” added Rachel. “He battled on for many years but, at the age of 13, his medical team decided he would need a further transplant to save his life.”

After a six-month wait on the transplant list, his family decided to partake in a new programme for live donations. Charlie’s father Chris was a match and donated part of his liver. Initially, the surgery was deemed a success, but Charlie developed septic shock while in Intensive Care.

“The medics struggled to keep him alive and he was placed at the top of the European Super Urgent transplant list,” said Rachel. He then received his third transplant and made a full recovery.

“We spent almost three months at the hospital, where we received phenomenal care and support,” she said. “Charlie has now returned to school and enjoys a completely normal life.

“As a thank you to the hospital, we decided to arrange a charity ball to raise much needed funds, and through the fantastic support and generosity of Herefordshire people we managed to raise just over £85,000.”

This money has gone into the Charles Tobey Fund at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Already, the fund has bought two important pieces of equipment for the hospital: an infuser which aids all surgery involving massive blood loss, and segmentation software that aids the assessment of livers in live donation.

The fund will continue to help towards important research projects in the future.

“The family cannot thank the team at Birmingham Children’s Hospital enough for the fantastic care they have received over the years,” said Rachel.

"We would also like to say a massive thank you to all those people who supported our fundraising efforts at the ball.”