Shropshire boy's life celebrated in fundraiser
The life of a little boy who died 10 years ago while waiting for a heart transplant was celebrated to mark what would have been his 13th birthday.
Lewis Prior's family held a charity fundraiser at The Beaten Track in Old Potts Way, Shrewsbury, to keep his memory alive.
When Lewis died, they faced further heartache after his ashes went missing at Shrewsbury Crematorium. They have never been returned to his parents, Karen and Colin, of Monkmoor, Shrewsbury.
An investigation has revealed there may be dozens of Shropshire parents whose children's ashes are missing.
The Priors staged the family fun day on Saturday, which raised more than £1,000 – including £452 from 11-year-old Ellie Thomas's sponsored haircut. Ellie donated her long blonde locks to the Little Princess Trust, a charity which provides real hair wigs to children experiencing hair loss.
Mrs Prior, a nursery assistant, said: "Our Just Giving site, where people who couldn't make it could leave donations, is up to £313. And my eldest son Andrew and his friend
Mark Weaver did a charity sky dive which raised £409. We are still collecting but if you add it all up it's about £1,300. We wanted to raise £1,000 so we've gone over which we are thrilled about.
"It's Lewis 13th birthday today and in April it was 10 years since we lost him so we just felt we wanted to do something to mark it in his memory.
Everyone seemed to be having fun. There were people dressed up as characters so children could have their photos taken with them. And we were going around with Minnie and Mickey Mouse ears and lollies. Lots of children had their faces painted and the girls had their nails painted."
Lewis was born with hypo-plastic left heart syndrome, meaning one side of his heart was underdeveloped.
He was awaiting a heart transplant but became too ill for surgery. His parents had no choice but to turn off his life support machine. They wanted to donate Lewis' organs to help save lives but he had been too poorly.
All money raised from this event will go to Hope House.
To make a donation visit www.justgiving.com/karen-prior2/