48 Hours Old Baby Given a 'Handmade Heart' After Undergoing Open Heart Surgery

A baby boy has been given a handmade heart after undergoing life-changing surgery at just 48 hours old. Vinnie Holliday, from Moseley, Birmingham, was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) while he was still in the womb and needed open-heart surgery just 24 hours after being delivered.

HLHS is a rare syndrome which makes babies be born without half of the heart. Even if the surgeons struggled to save him and rewire his organ, in a surgery just two days after birth, they are not very optimistic about his survival chances.

His mother, Claire, 36 years old, however, is very happy and optimistic about his progress as he spent only three weeks of recovery in the hospital. She and her husband Ben stated: “It’s been absolutely amazing. We’ve loved every second and you would never know there was anything wrong with unless you the scar down his chest. I take pictures every day and am focusing on building memories, we don’t think about tomorrow. I’m getting no sleep but I just don’t care because I never thought we’d have him.”

Vinnie, now seven weeks, recovered so well that he was able to go home to Moseley with parents Claire and Ben to enjoy his first Christmas. “They made him a hand made heart,” said Claire. “Basically they rewired it. “The blood is rerouted so that all the work is done by the right side of the heart.”

Doctors are unsure why Vinnie was born with just half a heart but believe it may run in the family as Mrs. Holliday’s brother passed within just a few days of being born as a result of the same condition.

Source-Medindia