Newcastle, England: Little Chanel Murrish is Britain’s youngest ever baby to have open heart surgery – just minutes after being born.
Her chances of survival had been so low before her birth that her parents Fay and Micheal were twice offered a termination.
But the couple refused to give up on their daughter after a scan during Fay’s pregnancy showed the tiny fighter giving the thumbs-up.
Now, at five weeks’ old, Chanel is going from strength to strength having got through not just the first operation but a second procedure at the age of just seven days.
Fay, 24, said: “Chanel has proved she is determined to live. I’m so proud of her. The doctors say one in three million babies are at risk of the same condition.
“Before she was born the specialists said she might not survive birth but we couldn’t face a termination.
“I know she wanted to live because she was giving a huge thumbs-up at her scan. It was like she was telling us everything would be OK.”
Chanel was delivered by caesarean at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital. Almost immediately surgeons operated on the 7lb tot, placing a stent in her heart. This kept her alive long enough to have the first operation for a condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which meant only one half of her heart was beating.
Fay said: “It was awful. I didn’t even get a chance to hold her before she was taken away.”
Fay had a straightforward pregnancy until her 20-week scan at Sunderland Hospital during which she was told of her baby’s condition.
When the couple were referred to a specialist at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary they were offered their first termination.
Fay said: “We were told Chanel could have operations but would only have a 50/50 chance of surviving the first and would need two more.
“Even then her life expectancy would only be to young adulthood and she would eventually need a heart transplant.
"When you hear that you wonder if you should bring a child into the world.
"But Chanel started kicking. There was no way I could have a termination.”
Later in the pregnancy Fay and Micheal, of Seaham, County Durham, were again faced with the agonising decision of whether to terminate the pregnancy because doctors also found problems with her heart’s blood flow.
Fay said: “The options were putting Chanel through the operations with a 20 per cent chance of survival, a termination or I could give birth to her and let her slip away peacefully.”
But they decided to give her a chance and not only did she survive her first surgery she then pulled through a seven-hour operation just seven days later.
Soon after the couple’s sons, Chase, four, and Cole, 22 months, were able to meet their sister for the first time.
Fay said: “For now we’re living in the moment and enjoying our beautiful baby daughter.”
-Mirror