I cried when Jade put on her nurse’s uniform ..there were times we thought she wouldn’t see her 18th birthday
Tiny baby who survived heart op now aims to tend newborns
BRITAIN’S smallest baby to survive open heart surgery is now training as a nurse – and hopes to work with newborns.
Jade McWilliam, who celebrates her 18th birthday today, had the op after a cardiac arrest when she was just 15 days old and weighed just 2lb 2oz.
She had been born 10 weeks prematurely.
Now she is studying nursing, has completed her first placement and could end up as a neonatal nurse, working with poorly babies.
Mum Margaret, from Kintore, Aberdeenshire, said: “I cried when she left school and I cried when she put on her nurse’s uniform for the first time because at one stage those were milestones we weren’t sure we’d reach.”
She said: “I do get emotional thinking that Jade is going to be 18 because there were times
when we never thought we would see her 18th birthday.”
Jade was flown to the former Yorkhill children’s hospital, Glasgow, in 2001 after her cardiac arrest, where she had a nine-hour operation to repair her aorta. Doctors were apprehensive about carrying out the surgery because she was so small but without the surgery she would have died.
Margaret said: “She has already done her first nursing placement which she loved.
“She always came back with a smile on her face and that was amazing because from a very young age that’s what she wanted to do.
“I still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. We are over the moon to be able to celebrate her birthday with her.”
Jade, who lives with dad Ian, 49, Margaret, 44, and sister Iona, 14, will now be joined by her family and friends as she celebrates turning 18. She said: “I feel quite old. But it’s a nice milestone and I am really looking forward to it.
“I’m going out for a meal with my family and my friends are all wanting me to go out in town for it as well.”
Jade has raised thousands of pounds for charities including the British Heart Foundation and became a black belt in karate at the age of 14.
But she admitted she still struggles to get to grips with others looking up to her. She said: “It does feel weird to me that people see me as an inspiration because I don’t feel any different to anyone else.
“But if I’m making a difference and helping other people to feel positive it’s a really nice feeling.
“I just want to raise as much money for the BHF as I can.
“Without them I wouldn’t be here.”
Margaret believes Jade is doing something not just for herself but for the thousands of people who suffer from heart disease. She said: “I have had people crying because Jade is just an inspiration to us all.
“Through all the work she has done for the charities and things like that, she has given herself and people like her a future.”
Jade has also had the chance to thank some of the people who saved her life including air ambulance pilot Rory MacDonald and surgeon James Pollock.