Parents in £50k race against time to save heart tumour girl, 2
THE parents of a two-year-old girl with a rare heart tumour are in a race against time to raise £50,000 for an operation to save her life.
Verity Davy was a healthy, active child. However, shortly after her second birthday in January she suddenly suffered from an “abnormal heart rhythm”, known as an arrhythmia.
The potentially fatal episode saw her heart race at 250 beats per minute – more than twice the normal rate.
A scan at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital confirmed she has an “extremely rare” cardiac tumour called a fibroma.
Verity’s mother Emily yesterday told how the family’s life has been “turned upside down”.
She said: “We never know if today will be the day we lose her.
“We have to carry a defibrillator with us everywhere we go in case Verity’s heart stops beating.
“Verity acts like a healthy and active two-year-old, but she could experience another episode of arrhythmia at any time without warning.”
Verity’s condition is so rare no surgeon in Britain has the expertise to remove the tumour. But medics at Boston Children’s Hospital in the US have successfully performed the operation on dozens of youngsters.
Mrs Davy and her husband Russell, both 32, were within £15,000 of their target last night. The couple, from Crawley, West Sussex, said: “The team said it can remove the tumour which will allow Verity to live a full and happy life.”
Mrs Davy, who works for Virgin Atlantic, said the only options on offer in Britain were a heart transplant or fitting an internal defibrillator.
The couple found out about the life-saving treatment through their own research and with the help of a consultant.
Mrs Davy said: “It seems barmy they don’t offer the same surgery over here. We were told it is uncharted waters in this country and there’s no surgeon happy to do it.”
To the people who have donated so far she said: “Thank you for giving our little girl the chance of life.”
To donate visit www.gofundme.com/ veritys-rare-heart-tumour-surgery