A North Yorkshire school dived in to support a bereaved father who rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic ocean to raise funds in the hope of preventing another family going through the dreadful loss of a child.
Amy Osborne, a former pupil at Thirsk’s Queen Mary’s School, died in her sleep from an undiagnosed heart condition at the age of 25.
Dad Andrew Osborne took on the mammoth challenge to raise money and awareness of CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young.
Amy’s old school decided they had to add their support and held a house challenge to see which school house could row the furthest.
Members of Amy's family helped to start the challenge with the House Captains at the ready. Each pupil had three minutes to row and in total the school rowed 138,051 metres, 85.78 miles. Byland House were the House winners.
Andrew Osborne completed the 3,000 mile row solo and unsupported in 78 days and ten hours. It meant setting off from La Gomera in the Canaries with the next sight of land 3,000 miles away in Antigua.
He said: “Thank you to Queen Mary’s for their support. If I can raise funds for CRY to test hundreds of children and therefore prevent the tragic loss to a family of a much loved child then it will have been worth every pull on the oars and every mile of the journey.”
Andrew battled 20 foot waves and had to try and eat 5,000 calories a day to keep going on his ten-week challenge. He said it was the most gruelling and exhilerating experience of his life and it had been an honour and a privilege to do it in Amy's name. Fewer people have successfully rowed the Atlantic than have climbed Everest or been to space.
Carole Cameron, head of Queen Mary’s School, said: “Amy was a much-loved pupil of Queen Mary’s and we are thrilled to be able to support her father Andrew in his fundraising for CRY. All pupils took part in the charity row and the whole school community was behind the initiative.”
Amy died in her sleep five years ago, becoming one of the 12 young people who die each week in the UK from this cause. Like Amy, 80 per cent of the youngsters whose lives are cut so tragically short don’t experience any symptoms.
Amy’s memorial fund, set up by Andrew’s family at the charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), has so far raised enough money to pay for more than 500 children and young adults to be screened as well as contributing funds towards research and to raise awareness to help save lives.
To donate to the appeal go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rowforamy
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