KIDDERMINSTER Victoria Cricket Club has decided to refund cash for a cancelled wedding reception to a bride-to-be suffering from a life-threatening heart condition.
Donna Davidson, of Cowper Walk, Kidderminster, suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy – a potentially fatal weakening of the heart muscle – and is now in need of a third heart transplant.
The 26-year-old mother of one has had to cancel her wedding reception at the cricket club as a result of her deteriorating health but is determined to push ahead with her marriage tomorrow to Aaran Mansell at Kidderminster’s St Mary and All Saints Church.
She paid the club £140 – including a £50 deposit – but was initially only refunded half that before the intervention of The Shuttle.
Norman Broadfield, president of the Chester Road North-based club, said: “We were unaware of the complexities of this case and we will certainly give the money back.
“There is no way we would show anything but sympathy to Miss Davidson.”
Miss Davidson said getting the money back was “fantastic news” and had been a “matter of principle”.
She added: “I was told to cancel the whole thing but we are going ahead with the wedding ceremony because if I am to die, I want to die Aaran’s wife.”
She explained: “I was devastated when I was told I was sick again.
“I am essentially dying and the only thing that will save me is another transplant but I am trying my best to remain positive for the sake of my little girl and my partner.
“They are everything to me. My little girl means the world to me and I have to be strong for her.”
Miss Davidson lost her 19-year-old brother, James Ridewood, to the same disease in 2007 and her seven year-old daughter, Leonie-Olivia, has also been diagnosed with the condition.
She explained that she was going for a transplant assessment next Monday and was about to start radiotherapy treatment.
She added she had had a pacemaker fitted and was currently housebound – unless assisted – and had to use a wheelchair.
Miss Davidson has become a figurehead for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and has helped promote the charity and raise awareness of its work.
You can follow her blog at caringbridge.org/visit/donnadavidson
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