On the 21st of April i will be running the London marathon for Heart research. 

As some of you may know this is a cause very close to mine and my family’s hearts. When my son Ronnie was born, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition and has since had 2 lots of heart surgery. 

Ronnie’s story- 

Back in February 2018 at my 20 week scan Ronnie was diagnosed with heart displacement, at this time consultants and doctors were unsure what this would mean for him. The next step was to undergo an amniocentesis test to determine if he would be born with any other medical conditions and to check that he would survive the rest of my pregnancy. The tests thankfully came back clear, the next step was to see a specialist heart consultant at Leicester. A few days later we were seen, our consultant was incredible and at that appointment it was decided that we would need to be closely monitored for the rest of pregnancy with more frequent scans and tests.

The second half of my pregnancy was very stressful and highly emotional as we awaited the arrival of our boy, unsure of exactly what the future would hold.

Ronnie was delivered at derby royal at 37 weeks by an induction labour he was born on 5.6.18 at 12.12pm and weighed 6.12lbs 

When he was born he was diagnosed with

Left-Right heart disproportion with mesocardia

Atrial septal defect and elevated right heart pressures

Coarctation of aorta

Dextrocardia

Bilateral SVCs

Ronnie spent his first week in Derby NICU, he was then transferred to Glenfield hospital where he spent the next 5 weeks of his life, in this time he underwent 2 lots of major heart surgery;

Balloon angioplasty of coarctation and cardiac catheter & Repair of aortic coarctation 

Our little family was exceptionally lucky as Ronnie’s second surgery was successful and we now have a strong, brave, wild little 5 year old who amazes us everyday. 

Although Ronnie leads a healthy and happy life, his medical journey isn’t over as he will continue to be checked and monitored by his consultant at Leicester for the foreseeable future and one day he may require the surgery to be redone. 

#TeamHRUK are raising funds to support Heart Research UK to fund pioneering research and education projects into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart diseases.