We (Heather, Pearly, Katy, Jonathan & Emily) are fundraising for the Brompton Fountain, a charity that supports the Royal Brompton hospital where our daughter Martha had life saving heart surgery just after she was born.

Our story....written by Daddy

Little Miss Martha

16th August 2015 was quite possibly the happiest day of our lives. Martha Susanne came into the world at 06:37 we were all shattered but over the moon to have a healthy baby girl in our arms. On 17th August, having had all the usual new born checks carried out, the junior doctor was doing up Martha’s babygrow when he thought that her heart may not be beating quite right. No biggie, there was a cardiac specialist in the hospital who would make sure all was ok later. That afternoon we took our little girl to have a scan on her tiny heart. Mumbles and groans from the doctor had us more than a little concerned, but he was fairly sure that there was nothing seriously wrong and would come down to the ward to see us shortly. We waited for a few hours, and when he came back he was a little more concerned, but reassuring and said that he wanted us to take Martha to the Royal Brompton when she was discharged the following day, to make sure there was nothing seriously wrong.

18th August 2015 was quite possibly the scariest day of our lives. We arrived at the Brompton around 11am and went from the Day Ward to floor 3 for Martha’s echo (scan on her heart). Then our world came crashing down. Having completed a very thorough examination we were told “if we don’t operate today, it will be first thing tomorrow”. The words are etched forever in my mind. We were told that Martha had a Coarctation of the Aorta - a narrowing of the aorta artery carrying blood from her heart to the rest of her body. It needed to be fixed or she would die. In addition to this, she had 2 holes in her heart, less urgent, but they were what caused the initial heart murmur picked up, which led us here. We were taken back to the Day Ward where we waited in a cubicle while the admissions paperwork was processed. At this point Daddy was a puddle.

Within 30 minutes we were in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, and Martha was hooked up to what seemed like a hundred monitors. We had met Dr Michael Rigby in the Day Ward, but now he was back with news of what his Team were going to do to make our little baby well. As the narrowing was on a bend in the artery it was decided that the best option was to cut Martha open and remove the narrow bit, then sew everything back together. Very deep puddles.

This was when we started to realise just how truly amazing the staff at the Brompton are. We were given a key to ‘our room’, it was a couple of floors up from Martha, and there was a kitchen, lounge area and bathrooms on the same floor, so we would never be far away from our baby. The nurses who were looking after Martha spent as much time looking after us. Food was made available, as well as cups of tea and coffee. The Nursery Nurses found time to help Mummy learn how to pump milk for when Martha was in recovery and keep up supply. Surgery was scheduled for the following morning. Eventually we were convinced to go to bed, no idea what time that was though.

19th August 2015 was the longest day of our lives. We signed the consent forms, and were told that whilst this was not exactly a routine procedure, it was not rare, but as with any surgery things could still go wrong. Surgery had been pushed back to lunchtime as an emergency case had come in overnight, but when the time came only Mummy went into see the anaesthetic being given, Daddy had already said ‘see you in a couple of hours’. Then we had what could be up to six hours to kill. Off down the Kings Road we went, but we could have been anywhere. It had been 4 hours and we could wait no longer, we went down to the PICU to see if there was any news. There was a doctor on the reception who figured straight away who we were. The operation had been a success, she said, but they were just doing a couple of checks, and would come and get us in ten minutes. When we finally saw our baby there was a ventilator, tubes and bandages galore. The genius surgeon, Dr Guido Michielon, spoke to us for at least fifteen minutes. He was very happy with his work, and even took the time to draw Mummy a diagram showing exactly what he had done. Words cannot describe how we feel about this man.

It was time for the healing process to begin. Martha was watched over by her own specialist nurse, each working twelve hour shifts. Without these wonderful people explaining what was happening, we would have lost our minds as machines we had never seen before beeped and flashed away. Each of them had a different personality, but they were all absolutely, totally, and utterly dedicated to making sure Martha, and her Mummy and Daddy, were given the best care and attention. The recovery was quicker than we could have hoped for. Within 3 days she was transferred out of intensive care over to Rose Ward, as Martha had all the tubes removed, and was slowly gaining weight. Mummy was able to breastfeed, and slept beside her daughter.

Ten days after the operation we said good –bye to the Royal Brompton Hospital. We met so many wonderful people there whose dedication, skill, compassion and over-riding goodness helped us get through something we never imagined could have happened to us. We became part of a club no one wants to be in. However, we are very aware that things could have been worse, and many others are still going through the prolonged torment of a sick child. The ongoing support and care that the doctors, and, in our opinion, especially the nurses provide, cannot be taken for granted. It is, like life, priceless.

In addition, we were truely grateful for all the messages of love and support that came from friends and family during this time - it really meant a lot to us.