THE plight of a baby who has endured heart surgery in the first year of his life is inspiring a team of cyclists to ride the entire length of the Leeds to Liverpool Canal.

Seven-month-old Oakley Kendal's battling nature has thrown down the gauntlet to colleague's of his grandmother, who will raise funds for the British Heart Foundation Oakley was born with a congenital heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, which needed urgent corrective surgery.

Mum and dad, Lauren Redman and John-Paul Kendal, are now nursing little Oakley through his recovery at their Burnley home.

Mum-of-two nursery nurse Lauren, who also has four-year-old Ashton, said he was on the road to recovery but he will need surgery again between the ages of five and 10.

She said: "He's a little monkey and he's been very brave.

"It's been a bit slow but he's doing great now.

"He might need a value replacement or have his arteries widening but he's a typical baby now, keeping me up all night, but he's always smiling.

"He used to have blue spells when he would go blue and floppy but he's doing great now."

Grandmother Nicola Castlehow, of Casterton Avenue, Burnley, is now rallying her colleagues to show their support.

Five cyclists from the Burnley-based aerospace giant Safran Aircelle will ride the 127 miles of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal on Saturday, August 8, to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation.

Nicola, a manufacturing scheduler, said: “Oakley has already had one operation and will be having another, but he’s doing very well.

"He had his operation about eight weeks ago.

"We are all hoping that that's it for the time being.

"But in the future he may have to have more operations.

"I am not doing the ride myself - I am doing the things I am good at and that's not riding a bike."

Dean Young, Stuart Comberbach, James Speechley, Man fai Pang, Phil Hesmondhalgh, David Floyd and Peter Ingham will complete the length of the waterway in one day.

Dean said: “People think that the canal is flat, but we know we’ll be facing a tough 13 hours in the saddle.

"The work of the British Heart Foundation touches all our lives at some point and Oakley’s plight has really brought that home to us.”

To support the group visit www.justgiving.com/Dean-Young42/?utm_id=7.