Little girl survives who underwent heart surgery to start school this September

A little girl who underwent heart surgery at just eight weeks old is ready and raring to start school for the first time this September.

At 24 weeks pregnant, Mum Suzanne Halfyard was diagnosed with early onset severe pre-eclampsia and after two and a half weeks was rushed to The Royal London Hospital. Within hours Suzanne had an emergency caesarean and gave birth to her daughter Amelia who weighed just 800g, and was diagnosed with a hole in her heart which led to serious health complications. For four months, Amelia needed specialist treatment at The Royal London Hospital but after failing to respond to medication she was transferred to St Thomas’ Hospital, where she underwent lifesaving surgery to close the hole in her heart.

During her time in The Royal London Hospital, parents Suzanne and Mark were supported by The Sick Children’s Trust’s Stevenson House, one of the charity’s ten ‘Homes from Home’ across the country.

Mum Suzanne said:

“The first week after Amelia was born was a really frustrating time for our family. Because of my caesarean, I wasn’t able to drive – so every day I would have to find someone to pick me up from our home in Walthamstow, drive across London to The Royal London Hospital, and then organise when and where to be picked up. Visiting my own daughter in hospital had become the hardest thing in the world.”