All aboard Noah’s ark
At ten weeks old, he was too small to fix and surgeons had to slip an elastic band over a key artery as a temporary fix.
Six months ago, they returned to do the job properly on Noah Ross, fixing the life- threatening hole in his heart.
He’s just celebrated his second birthday, jumping for joy like any other wee boy.
And his mum Jill, 38, is so grateful to the surgeons, she’s to pound the streets in the Simplyhealth Great Women’s 10K support the Glasgow Children’s Hospital charity.
Nurse Jill, from Ayr, said: “Noah has so much more energy and is living life to the fullest. Before his surgery he would have blue spells, become very breathless and tire easily. “The surgery has completely changed his life.”
Just days after Noah’s birth he was diagnosed with a large hole in the heart after he became unwell and admitted to hospital where he suffered heart failure.
The first op was open heart surgery to place a band around his pulmonary artery as a temporary measure.
In September last year Noah second second open heart surgery repaired the hole in his heart, allowing the band to be removed.
Jill recalled: “It was a really distressing time. We weren’t aware of his heart condition until he was two weeks old, so it came as a huge shock.
“Myself and my husband Colin also have two older boys, Ben and Finlay, so having to juggle our time between hospital with Noah and trying to keep some sort of normality was very stressful.
“Noah was diagnosed with a large ventricular septal defect, a hole in the heart, after he became very unwell when he was born.
“It wasn’t until he was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow that he was diagnosed.
“Noah became more and more unwell over the weeks. He was in heart failure and weighed less than he did at birth, which is when surgery was the only option.
“He had his first open heart surgery at 10- weeks- old which was a temporary measure to allow him to grow and gain strength as he was so tiny. He had a rocky road to recovery but after two weeks we were allowed to bring him home.
Jill has entered the Simplyhealth Great Women’s Run on Sunday June 10 with a team of friends.
She added: “I really wanted to take part to raise money for this charity and I decided to get a group of friends involved so we could all take part together.
“Since Noah’s journey, I knew I wanted to start raising money to give something back for his wonderful care. It seemed like a great way to start and it will be a big challenge for me.
“We are all trying to get together once a week to train along with doing some individual running.
“We’re not there to get the quickest times, we’re hoping to raise as much money as we can for this wonderful charity.”
For more information and to enter the Simplyhealth Great Women’s Run visit www. greatrun. org/ womens. Visit www. justgiving. com/ fundraising/ 10kgirlies