The day had arrived for our precious baby boy to get his heart fixed... little did we all know it wasn’t as easy as that!! 

Arthur went down for a partial AVSD repair on February 6th 2018 at aged just 7 months old. After 8 grueling hours he came back unstable, fighting for his life, sadly his surgery was unsuccessful. Leaving Arthur fighting so hard on a heart life support machine called ECMO - this machine was giving his own heart a rest in hope that it can recover. Our precious boy was left fighting for his life. Fighting what we thought was his biggest battle. Arthurs surgeon was doing his absolute best and we are forever grateful... 3 days later Arthur went down for his second open heart surgery, another 9 hours, his surgeon tried so hard to fix his valve, but enough was enough, he needed a mechanical valve fitted. Unfortunately, due to a lot of the electrodes being damaged within the heart, Arthur was extremely dependent on a pacemaker, so he needed a permanent pacemaker fitted also. This surgery was a success, but Arthur was still left fighting so hard for his life whilst staying on the heart life support ECMO machine. 

Then our whole world crumbled... Arthur had suffered a substantial stroke to his brain. After 8 days, Arthur came off The ECMO machine, and we were then transferred to Great Ormond street for possible brain surgery intervention. Our beautiful  any boy didn’t deserve any of this, but we were always staying positive he would pull through. 

Luckily the intervention was not needed.  After 14 days Arthurs chest was finally closed, and we were transferred back to his heart home The Royal Brompton. 

Arthur then started to wake up and my god he was fighting. It took weeks to get a cuddle with mummy, then finally after a month we started to get Arthurs smile... Arthur then had a long period in hospital and in rehab recovering from his stroke and was then finally home. 

Then our world shook again... 5 months after his second operation, and just 6 weeks at home, unfortunately our beautiful King Arthur had a blood clot stopping his valve and heart working - leaving him in major heart failure. The surgeon went again with his third open heart surgery, again another 8hours and this was a success. Still fighting for his life, but Arthur did so well. Arthur had to have another valve replacement, but this time the surgery went well, and the chest was closed. The long road to recovery starts now. The Royal Brompton Hospital, the team, his surgeon, nurses and the Brompton fountain are our absolute hero’s. Every single one of them. We owe our lives to them for saving our beautiful boy. Without them this wouldn’t have been possible. The brompton fountain, a small hospital charity, kept mum and dad sane for 6 months in total whilst we were there. Treating us to dinners out with other parents going through similar situations. Putting us up for the whole duration, staying in the same building as our son, so we can be close. Lots of treats for us both (manicure and pedicure afternoons for mum, football and pizza nights for dad to name a few, which as small as it seems is absolutely everything when you are stuck in a hospial) and always being there for us. We know the charity will be there in the future for us when Arthur has to go for further surgery. The charity is currently updating all the parent’s bedrooms and facilities to make life easier as a parent with a child in hospital. They are campaigning for new Sats monitors for the children’s ward. As a parent who’s child has been at the hospital for so long I know how much these machines are needed. The brompton fountain is only a small charity, but what they do is massive.  We couldn’t have done this without them! 

Lots of love Arthurs Mum, Dad and King Arthur xx