‘Doctorsfixed son’s broken heartwhen he was born’
BRAVE YOUNGSTER DETERMINED TO HELP OTHER KIDS
WHEN he was just three days old, Cormac Stewart was diagnosed with a serious heart condition and his tiny body underwent a life-saving operation.
When Cormac turned three, he was given a donor artery during open heart surgery.
And now, six years later – and facing the prospect of more surgery – the remarkable boy is determined to do all he can to help children who he thinks are sicker than him.
For the last three years Cormac, who is a pupil at St Benedicts School, in Easterhouse, has taken part in the Helping Hearts Family 5k in aid of Heart Research UK – most recently at Strathclyde Park on Saturday – and has also helped raise money for Yorkhill, Ronald McDonald House and the Children’s Heart Foundation along with his parents.
His dad Alistair Stewart, 46, said: “He always says he wants to help other kids who are worse than him and I tell him that there aren’t many who have been through what he has. He has three large scars on his chest and he knows that he got them when the doctors fixed his heart – which was broken when he was born – though he can’t remember anything.”
But the memory of what he lived through is still vivid in the minds of his parents.
Alistair said: “Cormac was just days old when he started to turn blue.
“Doctors at the Royal in Glasgow diagnosed him with pulmonary atresia.”
Pulmonary atresia is a condition where blood cannot flow between t he right chamber of the heart into the lungs – in order to pick up oxygen.
His dad added: “Rosemary had five miscarriages before we had Cormac, so he was scanned regularly throughout her pregnancy but this was not picked up.
“Doctors did discover that he wasn’t growing the way that he should have been, so he was delivered early via a C-section.
“Then, when he was five days old they had to open him from the middle left side of his chest to the left side of his back and fit a shunt in his heart to try to correct the problem.
“But this didn’t work, which we understand is quite unusual.
“So when he was seven days old they had to repeat the operation on the other side.”
Alistair added: “This was so challenging for us but we had to try and stay positive.
“There was a little boy in the opposite bed in Yorkhill who was dying and no-one knew what was wrong with him.
“I remember thinking that ‘yes, it is terrible what Cormac is going through’ but the doctors knew what was wrong and it was operable.”
When he was three, little Cormac was fitted with a
He is such a remarkable wee boy and he’s doing really well in school
donor artery during successful open heart surgery.
The brave toddler’s parents were stunned to see how quickly his condition improved and when just days later he was up, playing in the ward.
Alistair added: “I remember him pushing his IV around on its stand, desperate to play. We couldn’t keep him in his bed.”
Cormac has gone from strength to strength since then.
Alistair added: “We asked the doctor after operation if there was anything he wouldn’t be able to do and they said ‘no’.
“They warned us that he might get tired quicker than other children but that was all.
“From this point on we were determined to let him lead a normal, active life and made the decision not to wrap him in cotton wool.”
Three years ago, Cormac decided to take part in the Helping Hearts family 5k event in Motherwell.
The youngster also recently made and sold Loom bands to friends and family in aid of York h i l l a nd h i s f at her Alistair has taken part in a number of fundraisers over