£10,000 for Deal or No Deal 'loser' - Money to Go To Hospital That Served Her WS Son

£10,000 for Deal or No Deal 'loser' - Birmingham Mail:

"MANY game show contestants dream of splashing out on a new car or a holiday.

Olga Orlandini, of Solihull, also set her sights on scooping a pot of cash - but for a very different reason.

In 2005, the 33-year-old lost her two-year-old son Gianluca to a heart condition brought on by Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disease.

'When Gianluca passed away, I would spend a lot of time watching daytime television including the Channel 4 show Deal or No Deal,' said Olga, who has two other children - Olivia, aged ten, and Massimo, 20 months.

'While Gianluca was at Birmingham Children's Hospital he was attached to a portable heart monitor so that it could be moved around with him.

'I wanted to raise £10,000 for the hospital, enough for two portable heart monitors.'

Olga applied to go on the TV game show, hosted by Noel Edmonds, where the contestants choose a box at random before eliminating 21 others containing values ranging from 1p to £250,000.

Olga said she had a 'disastrous' game and ended up walking away with just £5.

'I'd taken a picture of Gianluca on to the show and had chosen box 14 - his birthday,' she said.

'I was stunned when the box was opened and there was only £5 in it. I felt sick."

Although she didn't know it at the time, a viewer was so moved by Olga's quest that she rang Birmingham Children's Hospital pledging £10,000, stipulating that the woman who had appeared on the show must decide how the money was spent.