Little Lennie Eyre has one big birthday wish this year – to open hundreds of cards.
It will be a special day for the terminally ill four-year-old, whose parents have been told nothing can be done to save him.
Brave Lennie was on the transplant list waiting for a new heart, but doctors now say surgery cannot be performed.
He is in Birmingham Children’s Hospital but could go into cardiac arrest at any moment.
Lennie’s family now want to create as many memories as possible and are appealing for Sunday People readers to send him cards for his big day on August 16.
Mum Laura has already been overwhelmed with the response after a children’s charity put out an appeal.
She said: "It’s amazing how kind-hearted all these strangers have been.
"He’s going to be over the moon when they are all delivered. He loves opening cards. “We can’t thank people enough - they will make his birthday so special. It could well be his last one, so we want to make it a day to remember.”
Lennie, from Burton upon Trent, Staffs, has a rare heart defect which means the lower half is back to front.
He needed a transplant, but doctors found he has an extremely high level of antibodies, so any new heart would be rejected.
Laura, who has three older children with husband Kelvin, said: "It was devastating when he had to come off the transplant list, as we knew it was his only hope of survival."
Lennie is currently on medication, but his condition has deteriorated during the past few months.
Laura added: "It feels like we are walking a tightrope, and he could have a cardiac arrest any day.
"We are just taking each day as it comes. We are going to try and go on a few days out from the hospital, such as going to Legoland, if Lennie is strong enough.
"We want to make as many memories as we can for him."
Children’s heart charity Young at Heart will deliver what will hopefully be a sackful of cards when he turns four.
A spokesman said: “Lennie’s cards are arriving by the dozen. We are hoping to get a postal sack full by next weekend."
- You can post a card through Young At Heart Children’s Charity, 18 Chudleigh Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B23 6HB.
