Singer Ben Walker surprises teen in Glasgow hospital

Ben surprised Freya Brown, 14, who was born with a Pulmonary Atresia of her heart with VSD and has been under hospital care since she was born prematurely. 

At two days old, Freya, from Cambuslang, had a shunt fitted in her heart. 

When she was one-year-old, she had open heart surgery to replace the conduit between her heart and her lungs. 

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When she was six, she had the conduit replaced again and at 14, due to the pressure on the right hand side of her heart becoming too much, her conduit needed replaced again.

The 12-hour surgery took place at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow this month followed by a tough recovery for Freya in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. 

Her dad Martin had the idea to have singer-songwriter Ben surprise her as an idea to boost Freya's moral after she became a huge fan when she saw Ben perform at a Youth Philanthropy Initiative event.

He said: "I messaged Ben Walker on Instagram and asked if he could maybe do a get well video message for her.

"Freya had saw Ben live a few times, followed him on Instagram, and she was always talking about how good he was.

"Ben replied saying he would be in Glasgow and offered to pop in and visit her.

"We kept in touch and, after I had checked with the ward, Ben came to surprise Freya the night we were due to be discharged.

"He spent a few hours with Freya which was great, but even before that, he was asking how she was getting on after her surgery and messaging to check in. It was good of him."

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Ben spent two hours on the ward with Freya and her family, chatting about school, her favourite subjects, and how she was looking forward to having ice cream and watching Netflix when she got home.

He said: "When Martin messaged me about Freya, I had a bit of a cry to be honest.

"Freya is made out of something different. Out of all the people that Martin could have messaged, he messaged me.

"Freya really wanted to meet me. It felt really wholesome.

"I was more nervous about meeting Freya than I was about going on stage.

"I was going meet this young girl, who thinks the world of me, and just to see how much that meant to her was emotional.

"You get opportunities to be good and kind to people, and if I can give back I will."

Mandy Meechan, chief nurse, Paediatrics at the Royal Hospital for Children, said: "It has been a huge month of exciting visits on the wards and Ben coming in to see Freya was the icing on the cake.

"This is a major surgery with a tough recovery so happy moments like this make a huge difference.

"We’re delighted that Freya will be at home enjoying Christmas with her family. She has an exciting future to look forward to."