Family’s joy as boy born with half a heart starts school
A BOY who was born with half a heart and had open heart surgery three times in the first few months of life has now started school.
Kaleb Lewis, four, was given almost no chance of survival in the womb and parents Kirsty and Shaun said they never dreamed of being able to take him home from hospital.
In his first year, Kaleb had to battle life-threatening illnesses which left him with pneumonia, a collapsed lung and needing nine major operations.
His rare heart condition deteriorated so drastically after six months that Kirsty, 37, and Shaun, 29, were told their son had just hours to live.
But the couple, from Hull, say they were delighted watching him pull on his uniform and going to primary school for the first time.
Shaun gave up his job as a builder and Kirsty left her position as a hairdresser to care for Kaleb. Shaun said: “When I saw him in his uniform, I had to pinch myself.
Miracle
“I just kept thinking to myself, ‘how the hell did we get here?’ It’s a long way from when he was born in hospital. He’s such a miracle. He loves life and has taught us to appreciate every moment.We’re really just so lucky.”
Doctors diagnosed Kaleb with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a birth defect that affects blood flow and means Kaleb has half a heart.
Kirsty said: “We were told by the doctors and nurses that he had just hours to live and that ‘maybe it was time to let him go’.We were devastated but we couldn’t give up on him, he’d fought so hard already.”
Kaleb was born at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in October 2014 and surgeons carried out emergency open heart surgery within minutes. He had surgery again at three weeks and a third at three and a half months.
His family have set up the Kaleb’s Cause charity to spread awareness of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. More information can be found at https://m.facebook.com/KalebsCause