Imagine, for a second, that you’re reading this screen and notice an increased heartbeat in your chest. 

Over the next few days, it doesn't go away. 

It seems to get worse.

You visit your doctor at three different times. You're told everything is fine. You even visit A&E on two separate occasions. Everything still seems clear. 

Strange.

Your heart carries on beating faster than usual. You're often out of breath. Hmmmn...

Now, your chest starts to feel tighter. Finally, you decide to visit a private practice.

As the consultant is performing the scan, he says “this is not normal”. He looks super worried.

He says you’re in a state of heart failure. So he quickly refers you to a specialist hospital. 

You're told that your rib cage will need to be cut open. You need full blown, open heart surgery.

Now imagine this isn’t happening to you, but your 6 month old baby boy...

This is what happened to us.

On Thursday 5th Jan 2017, the light of our family, little baby Ary, was diagnosed with three large holes in his heart. One in each chamber and one in his main artery.

We didn’t know what it meant yet, but the exact diagnosis was a PDA, VSD, ASD.

The hole in his artery was causing blood to fill his lungs. That meant he found it very hard to breathe.

His heart was slowly swelling. His tiny rib cage was being pushed out of shape, as his heart grew.

We were told he had this condition since birth. But his symptoms were missed during the routine pregnancy scans before AND after his birth. 

We just thought he had a poor appetite and was always warm.

Ary is our first child, so we believed what we were told by the local hospital.

When we were finally referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) by a new doctor, they were great.

They used a machine called an Echo Heart Scanner.

Within 20 minutes the consultant was able to detect the cause of Ary’s condition. We finally knew what was wrong with our little baby.

Soon after our first visit at GOSH, Ary underwent open heart surgery.

Saying Goodbye

The thought of our little baby having his chest cut open, brought tears to our eyes. 

As he lay unconscious, being wheeled into the operating theatre, saying goodbye to him was so, so hard. 

We’d just previously signed a form to say that we understand that our baby may not live through this operation...

Fast forward six months. We are approaching Ary’s first birthday. Thank god that everything went well with Ary’s heart surgery.

We feel so blessed and thankful that Ary is doing really well, and is on his road to recovery.

The ECHO Scanner: A Real Lifesaver

We still visit GOSH on a monthly basis to check Ary’s heart is healing well.

At every visit, an Echo scanner is used to see images of Ary’s heart. Without this machine, we wouldn’t be able to see the health of Ary’s heart.

These scanners are used to detect heart conditions in several little babies during pregnancy and after birth.

It’s crazy, but the scanners at GOSH perform around 16,000 scans every year. 

They perform incredibly well. But over time, the images become less clear and several machines often need replacing.

The cost of a new Echo scanner is approximately £75,000. We know this is a large amount, but it actually saves lives and is priceless.

Turning One

Now, our little bundle of joy is turning one. We’ve been asked by friends and family, what Ary would like for his first birthday.

We’re so overwhelmed at how special he is to so many of you and how loved he is. 

However, his favourite toys are empty bottles! 

Ary is entertained by little things right now. He really doesn’t need any new toys, clothes or gifts.

Something Different

GOSH have a campaign to raise money for two new ECHO Scanners. 

We’d love to help them because we know how important this machine is. It helped saved our baby’s life.

So we wondered if we could ask you a favour…

If you'd like to give Ary something for his first birthday, we’d really appreciate if you could donate towards these new Echo machines for GOSH, instead.

Ary is going to need to use these Echo machines for the rest of his life, as he goes back for regular checkups. 

So what better way to celebrate Ary’s birthday? You can donate towards saving Ary's life AND saving several more young lives, too.

So if you could please make a donation here at JustGiving, or directly through GOSH or any other way you want, then PLEASE DO.

We only know first-hand, just how well your donation will be used. 

It’s such a great cause. It's also a great way to help hundreds of other children with life saving heart scans.

Doing Our Bit

To show our gratitude (and to give you even more reason to donate), we (Shiva, Gavir & Ary) will be taking part in a 5k run for GOSH’s Race for the Kids event in October. 

Hopefully Ary will be walking by then! If you want to join us, please do!

Thank You

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank GOSH!

The staff at GOSH are exceptional at what they do. They are simply the best at understanding babies and children. It really is what they do best!

We can’t stress enough the level of personal care each baby is given. Whether it’s the Intensive Care Unit, the High Dependency Unit, or even at the wards.

The Nurses and staff are all simply amazing. They go above and beyond their normal call of duty.

We’d love to give our personal thanks from the bottom of our hearts to the staff at GOSH that touched Ary’s life during our time there. 

We would also like to thank GOSH for choosing Ary’s story to be showcased on their website, for his first birthday – that really is extra special.

We would also like to thank our friends and families for the support they have shown us during the past six months. Be it in person, text or phone call - your words and encouragement kept us sane and positive - thank you for all the love and support.

Finally and most important thanks to our beautiful baby Ary - thank you for being the superhero that you are! 

Even after a massive hurdle early in your little life, you were such a trooper. You never moaned or complained (perhaps it’s because you were so nosey in your new hospital surroundings) and made every day look like a breeze!

Even a day after your surgery you were making us smile with your antics!

We have only one word to describe the last 12 months - EXTRAORDINARY!

HAPPY 1^st BIRTHDAY our little superhero! xxx

Targets Targets Targets…

So come on people! 

Please dig deep and help us to raise our target amount!

It’s our small way of contributing, and it really counts. It’s not only a great way to say happy birthday to Ary, but to also touch many other sick children’s lives.

Thank you very kindly.

Love and Hearts, Shiva & Gavir

Please read Ary’s story at: http://www.gosh.org/news/gift-keeps-giving

Thank you!