In 2016, the Edith Florence Spencer Memorial Trust awarded a grant of £10,000 to ECHO.

This grant was for the cost of running the ECHO cardiac antenatal classes for one year. Our classes are the only bespoke cardiac antenatal classes held in the UK, all costs are met by ECHO.

The cardiac antenatal classes continue to be an important service provided by echo, enabling us to support expectant parents with specialist information at a very difficult time. We continue to receive excellent feedback from parents who attend the class, and have a great working relationship with the hospital team.

I didn't bother going to the antenatal classes offered by my local hospital for a number of reasons. Firstly my local ones were on weekdays so my partner could not attend with me, whereas the echo class was on a Saturday.  Secondly, I didn't want to be told about options and scenarios which would not be available for me under the circumstances of my child’s condition. I’ve found it hard to explain the situation to every local midwife and nurse I had to see and wanted to avoid having to explain it again. The echo class was perfect as we knew they would explain everything according to cardiac conditions and St Thomas hospital - and we weren't disappointed. It gave us all the information we needed.

ECHO parent

The Edith Florence Spencer Memorial Trust is a charity established by a local benefactor keen to improve the lives of others suffering from certain medical conditions, including heart defects, heart disease, rheumatism and arthritis.

ECHO thanks the Trust for providing this significant donation, their generosity has gone a long way to ensuring families received vital support when they needed it.