Baby given 48 hours to live now two years old and ‘getting stronger every day’

A baby girl who was given just 48 hours to live has now returned home at two-years-old.

Mum Leanne was told at 20 weeks that her daughter had four severe heart defects and a large hole between her heart chambers. Just three months after birth, doctors gave baby Hope just 48 hours to live after suffering spasms like “mini heart attacks” followed by a cardiac arrest.

But after undergoing a total of three heart surgeries since birth, Leanne said: “To see Hope now is amazing. She has been through so much but is getting stronger every day.”

‘Not giving up’

When Leanne was told her daughter only had two days to live and that she might not survive surgery, she said: “My whole world came crashing down. The doctors kept saying sorry and that it wasn’t looking good but I was just numb and heartbroken and Mike was a mess too.”

But she explained: “We decided to go for the surgery. We couldn’t not. No way were we going to give up after she’s been fighting so hard to survive”.

The surgery was successful, and Hope went on to defy expectations after reaching two-years-old when she was seen “walking around the corridors and playing” shortly after having a pacemaker fitted.

She may need another operation in around four years’ time when doctors will decide whether her heart will be able to work by itself, or to refit her pacemaker.

‘Full of life’

Earlier this year, a mother who refused to abort her son when medics discovered he only had half a working heart says the now nearly two-year-old boy is “full of life”.

Kate Parnaby was told she could abort her son or let him die at birth when a 16-week scan showed that he had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition where half the heart does not develop properly.

But she chose to give birth to baby Carter, saying: “I didn’t know whether Carter would make it, but I knew I had to give him a chance to live, however small it was.”

In Britain, abortion is currently effectively available for any reason up to 24 weeks, the age at which babies are deemed to be ‘viable’ outside the womb. Children can be aborted up to birth if they are deemed to have a disability, including treatable conditions such as cleft palate and club foot.