THE Pride of St Helens Awards, sponsored by Mikhail Hotel & Leisure Group, will take place on Friday, November 22.

We're profiling the shortlisted nominees this week - here are the profiles of the two in the running for the Pride of St Helens Child of Courage Award, sponsored by Lanny Man. 

Teighan Whitfield

(Image: Teighan)

TEIGHAN Whitfield also from Haydock, was born with a liver condition called Biliary Atresia and had to have a major life saving operation at six weeks old.

Over the years she has had regular appointments at Leeds Children’s Hospital and many hospital admissions, but remained fairly well up until early the beginning of 2023 when doctors found three nodules on her liver.

It was decided that Teighan would need a transplant and in August 2023 she was put on the organ donor list.

After two false alarms her family received the gift of life in February this year at a time when Teighan’s health really began to go downhill.

Her mum Danielle said: “We don’t know what the future would have been like for her.

"We are so grateful to her donor and his family for saving her life.”

Teighan has shown tremendous strength and courage throughout her life and now has gone from weekly checkups to every six weeks as her health improves.

On her nomination her mum added: “I was shocked but absolutely made up to hear that Teighan has been shortlisted for the courage award. “She has put up with so much in her life, to be recognised for the brave little girl she is means the world to us.”

Charlie Stuchberry

(Image: Charlie Stuchberry)

CHILDHOOD cancer is an awful reality some incredibly brave children are forced to face, but in the face of such adversity there are some youngsters who show immense courage by wanting to help others.

Such is the case with eight year-old Charlie Stuchberry from Haydock who battled leukaemia from the age of five to seven.

A mark on his eyelid worried his mum and when they got it checked this hellish journey began.

Thankfully it resulted in the English Martyrs pupil ringing the end of treatment bell in March 2024 after an intense course of chemotherapy for two years.

Now he is nearly six months in remission but he has side effects from treatment, including a lack of mobility.

Despite this, Charlie strives to help raise awareness of childhood cancer and even raised more than £1,300 for a childhood cancer charity the Owen McVeigh foundation by riding his beloved pony around Aintree’s Grand National grounds.

He is currently in year 3 and despite missing most of his time in infants, he strives to be the best he can be.

Talking about his nomination his incredibly proud mum Daniella said: “Charlie has been through more in his eight years than most adults do in a life time but how he conducts himself and the kind boy that he is in spite of it all makes us so extremely proud of him.

“For his bravery and courage to be highlighted in these awards makes me so happy because he deserves all that praise. He’s my hero."