FRIENDS whose children were born with heart defects are planning a cycle ride to raise money for the “unreal” charities that are helping them through it.

Joseph Healy, James Leahy, Jamie Pownceby and Bradley Smith, who are all members of Mill Hill Rugby Club, will take on the 18,000 mile challenge for Great Ormond Street Hospital and Everlina Children’s Heart Organisation.

Joseph, 27, was devastated when his son, George, had to have heart surgery at GSOH when he was just hours old last year.

After George was born, Mr Healy rushed to GSOH to be with his son while his wife stayed in hospital to care for his twin, Tommy.

The father-of-five said: “Once I got there the help that we received was incredible. They knew we were coming before we arrived and as soon as we got there I was given keys to an apartment and the support they gave us throughout our time there was just unreal.”

Meanwhile his friend, James, George’s godfather, became a father to Amelia last year who was also born with a heart defect, and is scheduled to have an operation at Everlina Children’s Hospital next month.

Known as team survivors, the group will start their ride on August 14.

They will set out from Great Ormond Street, cycle to Portsmouth before taking the ferry to France.

There, they will ride through France and Spain until reaching Gibraltar where they will catch another ferry to Morocco, and finish their journey in the city of Fez.

M Healy, who grew up in Meadfield, Edgware, said: “It’s been done in 16 days before.

“We will be sticking to the same route as them but we’re aiming to do it in less than 15. They were doing around 80 miles a day so we are aiming to do around 120, at least for the first week.”

They will also be joined by two support drivers who will drive a motorhome for resting as well as a van to carry necessary equipment such as spare tyres.

The team have been training hard to prepare themselves for the gruelling expedition.

Mr Healy said: “I play Tight Prop at Rugby so I’m a big lad and my weight is a bit of an issue.

“Jamie who is coming with us is a sports therapist and he developed a six month training program for us. We’ve been cycling 40 miles every weekend and 10 every other day since August to get ourselves ready for the trip.”

The group hope raise at least £10,000 for the two hospitals, having already earned just under £1000 and have been working hard to spread the word about their challenge.

Mr Healy said: “A knee injury I’ve suffered means that I can’t play Rugby at the moment, I can only cycle.

“So I come down to our games and cycle around the pitch for the full 80 minutes to raise awareness for our journey. Mill Hill RFC have been very supportive.”

“We’ve looked into it and we are hoping that the money raised will be used to buy equipment that can help save children’s lives and that’s exactly why we are doing this journey. We’re just trying to give back what we have received.”

To donate to ‘Team Survivors’ please visit http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/challangeafrica.