Deepest sympathy

Cliftonville Football Club are deeply saddened to learn that young supporter Aimee Brady has passed away.

The 11-year-old, who was born with a heart defect, was a regular at Solitude and maintained a strong passion for the Reds throughout her fight with illness, during which she was proud to raise awareness of the Children’s Heartbeat Trust’s organ donation campaign.

Aimee had been a patient in Clark Clinic at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children for the last 10 months and was delighted to receive visits from Reds players and staff.

A spokesperson for the Children’s Heartbeat Trust said: “Aimee was one of the bravest, funniest and sassiest girls we had the honour of knowing. She spent the last 10 months of her life in Clark Clinic and latterly PICU waiting on a heart transplant but tragically never got the call she and her family so desperately needed.

“Aimee was a great friend to us here at CHT, starring in our 2015 awareness campaign, launching the Children’s Heart Centre with Sir Rory Best earlier this summer and in September raising crucial awareness of the need for organ donation in a very powerful BBC interview which received one of the highest response rates and views that BBC NI have ever had.

“Always ready with a cheeky smile and joke, Aimee was a light in the lives of all who knew her and her impact has been felt further afield with well-wishers contacting her and her family from around the world.

“If you do one thing today in Aimee’s memory please sign up to the organ donation register at www.organdonationni.info and talk to your family about your wishes. The gift of organ donation really can make all the difference.”

Everyone at Cliftonville Football Club echoes the CHT’s appeal and extends our own deepest sympathies to Aimee’s parents Steven and Valerie, as well as her brother Taylor and the extended family at this very difficult time.