The family of a girl who lost her battle with a rare genetic condition in September have erected a special Christmas tree to raise cash for charity in her memory.
Eve Hayes was diagnosed with the neurological disorder Rett Syndrome in 2002, and died at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital at the end of September.
To help cope with their loss, Eve’s parents Louise Park and Gary Hayes have put up a “memory tree” in Aberdeen’s Trinity Centre.
Christmas shoppers are invited to purchase small paper stars for the tree in memory of the loved ones they are missing during the festive season to raise cash for The ARCHIE Foundation, the official charity of the children’s hospital.
Ms Park said: “We knew that Christmas would be quite a difficult time, so we decided to do something positive in her memory, and came up with the idea of the memory tree, because there’s nothing really like it in Aberdeen.
“It was a bit of a struggle to find somewhere to put it up at this time of year, but thankfully the Trinity Centre got on board and I’m going to be here at the memory tree until Christmas.
“We really wanted to raise money for the Archie Foundation, because they did so much for Eve when she was at the children’s hospital, and she passed away at the children’s hospital.
“We’ve got 1,000 stars we’re hoping to sell, we’ve got bigger ones that cost £10 and smaller ones that cost £5. If we sell them all, we could make £8,000 for ARCHIE – and if we could do that in just two weeks, that would be amazing.
“People have been really nice so far, when we’ve told them about what the tree is for, they’ve been really supportive and we’ve sold a lot of stars already.
“If everyone that comes through the Trinity Centre on their Christmas shopping trips stop by the memory tree, we can make a big difference.”
Ms Park has also set up an online fundraiser for those who can’t make it to the memory tree in person.
To donate, search for Louise Park on www.justgiving.com
