'Moving mountains' for Naomi's Garden in memory of Ruby
After seeing his daughter helped so much by a Manby charity, a grieving father has ‘moved mountains’ in her memory by undertaking a huge fundraising challenge.
Karl Meyer has just completed the Sportive HQ 256-mile Ride the North East Coast bike ride to raise money for Naomi’s Garden Conductive Education, in memory of his youngest daughter Ruby, to thank the charity for everything they did for herr.
Ruby was born with Hyperplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a congenital heart defect which meant she only had two chambers in her heart and was in permanent heart failure.
She suffered a significant stroke at 18 months old and lost the ability to speak, swallow, and lost most of her motor and movement skills, and her family were told that Ruby would never walk or progress in her development.
Naomi’s Garden provides conductive education those with movement disorders such as Cerebral Palsy, Parkinson's, Dyspraxia and Motor Delay, as well as support for their families, as well as SEND services for children with autism, ADHD, and sensory processing difficulties.
So when the team stepped in, over time, thanks to their hard work at their base at Manby Park, Ruby began to crawl, then eventually took steps with walking frame, then was able to walk unaided.
Her communication skills also improved, and Karl said that Ruby was loud, happy, engaging child.
But sadly, her continuing heart failure compromised her mobility and tiredness, and she passed away on June 17 2022, aged just five years old.
"Ruby left a gaping hole in not just our lives but everyone else who came into contact with her,” Karl said, “Although Ruby had a short life, it was happy and she was cherished. She astounded the medics and her cardiologists who had expected a much shorter life for her.”
To mark the second anniversary of Ruby’s passing, and to aid Naomi’s Garden’s expansion plans, Karl took on the challenging bike ride, cycling along the north east coast from Berwick on Tweed to the mouth of the Humber estuary over three days from May 21 to 23 – which he said was a “brutal” experience:
"The distance wasn’t too bad over the three days, but the weather was on another dimension,” Karl said, “There was biblical amounts of rain and howing winds, and at one point we got re-routed down a major A-road because police had closed the road because of a serious collision – so it wasn’t without incident.
“The best weather was on day one, but the hardest was day three from Whitby to Spurn Point as it was flatter in East Riding, but we were so exposed with the wind.
"I did get a bit emotional on the last day, and had a little chat with Ruby as I always do,” he added.
But Karl’s efforts were all to raise money for the charity which helped Ruby so much, and so far he has raised more than £1,000 via on and offline donations.
"It’s such a special place for us,” Karl said, “And Ruby was so special to Naomi’s Garden’s staff.”
Naomi’s Garden lead conductor Sarah-Jayne Walker said: “We are so grateful to Karl and his family. He has now raised over £1,000 for Naomi’s Garden which will go towards the continuing refurb of our new premises.
"Ruby is very much missed. She was a joy to be around with her wonderful personality. In her little life, she showed us what it means to move mountains.
"Now, to see Karl moving mountains for Naomi’s Garden so children like Ruby can access our new HQ is overwhelming. They will always be part of our Naomi’s Garden family.”
You can still make a donation to Karl’s challenge at https://gofund.me/5c1b439f