A GRATEFUL Abingdon dad will abseil down Oxford Children’s Hospital to thank staff for saving his son’s life after his appendix burst.

Kieran Richardson, 32, will brave the 100ft drop to help the hospital as it tries to raise £2m to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

The family were returning from a holiday in Tuscany, Italy, to attend a wedding in early June when two-year-old son Dylan first became ill.

Mother Natalie Shorter, an interior architect, said: “Dylan wasn’t feeling well on the plane but we thought it was tiredness.

“It was when he was complaining of stomach pain at nursery that we knew something was wrong and took him to the hospital.”

Despite having an X-ray, doctors at first had trouble diagnosing what was wrong with the youngster.

The mother-of-two added: “Apparently appendicitis is really rare and difficult to diagnose in toddlers. When they worked out what was wrong he was taken in for surgery but there were complications and he had to have another operation a week later.”

The family, who live in Bailie Close, Abingdon, were eventually told Dylan’s appendix had burst and the toddler was so ill he was coughing up bile.

Ms Shorter, 33, said it was an especially testing period for the family as their other son, Conor, was just three months old at the time.

She said: “I was having to look after Conor so Kieran was staying with Dylan but it was hard on all of us. Obviously at first Dylan was scared and he would start whimpering every time a doctor came in – it was horrible.”

Thankfully, the second surgery went well and the toddler was able to leave the hospital after 13 days.

Ms Shorter said: “I’m so thankful for everything the staff did to help my son and make his stay as comfortable as possible. I think it’s one of those things that you don’t really think about until you need the service, but we are so grateful for what they did for Dylan.”

She continued: “It was only when a friend who works at the hospital told us they were using a picture of Dylan to advertise the abseil that I told him, ‘That’s it, you’ve got to do it now’.

“You won’t catch me up there, though; Kieran’s always been into this kind of thing, but I’ve become even more cautious since we had kids.”

On his justgiving page Mr Richardson, who works in finance, wrote: “The children’s hospital at the John Radcliffe was absolutely fantastic. Living in Abingdon, we are incredibly lucky to have such great care available locally. I’m looking to help give something back to thank them for the fantastic work they do each and every day. Please dig deep for a great local cause and help me achieve my target.”

The father-of-two has already raised more than £250 of his £300 target, and will brave the abseil on Sunday, September 24.

To donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/kieran-john-richardson