Essex mum organises charity film screening

After one of Helen Reeve's twin baby boys needed open heart surgery when he was just 4 months old, the Basildon mum says organising a special film screening will help her "give something back" to the charity that helped the family through it.

Albie was born with a septal defect - more commonly known as a 'hole in the heart' - as went into hospital last year for an operation to fix it when he was just 4 months old.

The septum - tissue dividing the heart into chambers - develops with a valve-like gap in the foetus to maintain the circulation of the baby and usually closes after birth. However, in some cases the gap stays open.

Nine months on, Albie's mum Helen Reeve's been telling Heart he's now just as fit and healthy as his twin brother Stanley but it was the support the family received from the children's charity Echo, that helped them through a tough time, as being by Albie's beside meant being away from her other baby boy.

This Sunday, Helen's organised a charity screening - one of the first in the country - of new family comedy movie Marmaduke, starring Owen Wilson as the voice of the comic strip dog.

The showing will be at the Empire Cinema at Basildon's Festival Leisure Park at 10am on Sunday and all the money raised will go to the charity.