I got a new heart for Christmas
Sophie, 3, saved by donor
IT’S the greatest present anyone could hope for.
Heart patient Sophie Maxwell has been given a chance to live – just 11 days after doctors suggested ending her care.
The three-year-old was told she needed a new heart on Christmas Day last year, but her parents faced an agonising wait of almost 12 months for a donor.
Parents Kerryanne, 30, and Ian, 40, were devastated when doctors recommended ending all care for their daughter after she contracted deadly blood poisoning.
But they refused, and just 11 days later a match was found and Sophie was wheeled down for surgery.
Now she is doing well and is even smiling for photos after the only wish on her family’s Christmas list came true.
The couple had fought to save Sophie’s life since she was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome – a birth defect that affects blood flow through the heart – at Kerryane’s 23-week scan. But after numerous operations, Sophie’s heart continued to decline.
Last Christmas she took a drastic turn for the worse and her organs began shutting down.
The toddler, from the Boldons, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was so unwell before the seven-hour operation that she turned blue.
Mother-of-three Mrs Maxwell said: ‘I was terrified when she was diagnosed with sepsis and on November 11, doctors even gave us the option to end all care by stopping her heart medication but that wasn’t even an option for us.
‘I have fought for her for three years and I couldn’t not give her a chance at a normal life.
‘She looks like a different child now. She finally has the new heart she desperately needed.’
She added: ‘Before the operation she was blue because her heart wasn’t working properly but as soon as I saw her after surgery, she was instantly a healthy pink colour.
‘It’s such a relief that an organ match was found... It was all we wanted for Christmas.’
Sophie will be monitored for the rest of her life. Her mother added: ‘There is no simple fix for congenital heart defects... But thanks to her selfless donor, she has the chance of having a future.’