We have to ckeep going and to stay strong for our baby boy
PARENTS WHO LOST FIRST SON AT TWO NOW FACE AGONISING WAIT FOR NEW HEART
THE parents of Carter Cookson have vowed to “stay strong” for their baby boy as they anxiously wait for a heart transplant to save his life.
Parents Sarah and Chris have constantly been by the bedside of their son after he suffered three cardiac arrests within hours of being born on Boxing Day.
At just over one week old, Carter underwent surgery to drain one side of his heart and attach a pacemaker but the couple, of South Shields, were given the devastating news it was not successful.
They have been told by doctors at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital that their beautiful baby boy has just weeks to live unless a new heart is found.
It was a devastating blow for the couple who lost their first son, Charlie, at the age of two-and-a-half.
Chris, 40, said: “Three people have got jobs to do right now. We need the nurses to do their job, Carter to do his job and not give up, and we need to do our job and find a new heart.
“The horrible thing is that there is a race against time but there is not anything we can do.
“We have to keep going and we have to stay strong for Carter.”
During Sarah’s pregnancy, doctors kept a close eye on her and scans showed no complications before her son was born at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.
“There was nothing at all on the scans,” Chris said.
“His left ventricle was dead tissue, which would not be picked up on a scan. When Carter was in Sarah, his heart would not work by itself, it was not until he came out.”
Carter is now attached to an Ecmo machine that is pumping blood around his body, but every day the tot is attached to it, it means he faces more complications.
“He is connected to a machine that has blood going through it but it could clot and there is the risk of internal bleeding,” Chris said.
“The longer he is on the machine the more dangerous it is. He can stay on the
machine for six to eight weeks, but has been on it for two weeks already.”
After issuing an urgent plea in the hope to find a new heart for Carter, Sarah and Chris were flooded with well-wishes from kind-hearted strangers.
Chris said: “The support we have received has been phenomenal. Sarah’s post was shared more than 32,000 times. It is a comfort knowing people are praying for Carter to find a heart.
“We talk to people in the hospital from all religions who say ‘we will pray for your son.’”
Sarah, 44, and Chris tragically lost their first son when he was just a toddler. The Cooksons set-up
The Charlie Cookson Foundation in memory of their son, who was born with a mystery medical condition and spent much of his life in hospital.
Chris said: “We have been through this before with Charlie, who was twoand-a-half years old.
“To face it a second time, this is absolutely killer.”