A BRAVE little boy born with half a heart has been presented with his first bike.

Finley McDonald’s three-wheeler has been specially made just for him thanks to money raised by a charity golf tournament between Leigh East ARLFC and Leigh Miners Rangers Amateur Rugby League Club.

Finley was born with the incurable and life-limiting condition hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which means he only has half a heart, and next year will face his third major heart operation.

The four-year-old also has epilepsy after he had a stroke during the second operation when he spent five months in hospital and struggles to walk and talk.

But he will not let that stand in his way — he has swum with dolphins, been a mascot for Leigh Centurions and visited Disneyland Paris.

His mum Nicola Shaw and dad Gary Jones, aged 50, who fostered Finley when he was just six weeks old, have raised thousands of pounds since May when they started fundraising for Little Hearts Matter and the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

They wanted to thank the charities after they helped in the family’s mission to make as many memories as possible with Finley and set up a Facebook page called Finster’s Little Adventures to document his activities.

Tony Sanderson from Leigh East helped organise the golf tournament which was held at Westhoughton Golf Club in September and also won by Leigh East.

He said: “We do the tournament every year for various charities and this year we thought we would do it for Make a Wish and Little Hearts Matter.

“But I then I came to see Nik and she mentioned that Finley had never had a bike which is something we take for granted.

“We generally raise between £700 and £800 but I said to Nik don’t worry – we will raise the £1,400 needed for the bike.

“We normally get the odd sponsor but this time every single hole got a sponsor and there were four main sponsors. We actually raised £1,700.

“It was all down to Leigh East and Leigh Miners’ ex players and officials and the sponsors who deserve the thanks – not me, I was just a support role.”

And to top off the year for Finley, who lives on Hansom Drive, Atherton, and attends New Greenhall complex needs school, Leigh Centurion Greg McNally dropped of the shirt and boots that he wore during their victory at Headingley in the Grand Final.

Leigh Journal:

Finley McDonald with Tony Sanderson on his new bike

Mum Nik, aged 40, said: “I got the quote for the bike and I told Tony that I wouldn’t let them get it because the price was ridiculous.

“So far we have raised more than £10,000 for Make-a-Wish and Little Hearts. Within a few weeks of setting up a donation page we had a couple of hundred pounds – I couldn’t believe it.

“I started the Facebook page really for me – to keep a diary of all the things we did with Finley.

“I didn’t even know people like Tony but Finley has touched so many people’s hearts.

“He is so excited about his bike – he even sits in it to watch the television.”

To find out more about Finley and his adventures, visit his Facebook page.

Tony and Finley's family would like to thank the Red Pepper Sandwich Company, Genlec Ltd, Brand-Rex Ltd and all the sponsors who helped on the day.