I am proudly fundraising for the Brompton Fountain, a wonderful charity which supports the children's units at Royal Brompton Hospital where our daughter Maya had life saving heart surgery at 3 days old.

I will be running the Royal Parks Half Marathon; covering 4 of the Royal Parks in London.  I have never run a half marathon before so it will certainly be challenging!

The money raised will go towards purchasing heart monitors for Rose Ward; one of the Paediatric units at Royal Brompton. Each monitor costs £6,000 and they need to purchase a total of 19 heart monitors.  So please dig deep to support The Brompton Fountain as every penny  really does count.

Our little heart warrior Maya Mistry, was born on 27th October 2015. She was born with a heart defect: coarctation of the aorta, which required life saving heart surgery at just 3 days old.

Our Story

When we first found out at 21 weeks pregnant that our baby had a heart defect, our world came crashing down. What does this mean? Why does OUR baby have it? What has caused this? What will happen now? All questions which went swarming through our minds. We were scared of the uncertainty and lost as to what would happen.

This is when we were referred to the Royal Brompton Hospital.  The antenatal cardiology team took great care of us and Julietta explained everything to us and answered all the questions we had.  We were given a tour of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and Rose Ward at Royal Brompton Hospital which would become our temporary home once Maya was born.

Maya's birth

Due to the antenatal diagnosis, I was due to be induced however Maya decided she wanted to come early. My waters broke on my first day of maternity leave and in the early hours of 27th October, Maya was born at Queen Charlotte & Chelsea Hospital. As soon as she was born she was whisked away in a special ambulance to Royal Brompton with Daddy (Amar). She was admitted to PICU and Amar was given a key to a room just two floors above PICU so we could be close to our baby.  I was able to join them the following day.

Heart Surgery

Friday 30th October was a very tough day. After cuddles in the morning we went down to theatre and handed our little girl over to the anaesthetists. After watching her drift to sleep, we kissed her goodbye and had to leave.  We spent the next 6 hours trying to pass the time whilst Maya was undergoing heart surgery. 

Later that evening, Maya returned to PICU and the wonderful surgeon Mr Guido Michielon spoke to us precisely explaining the surgical procedure and that he was happy with his work, but the next 72 hours would be critical in determining the operation a success. Maya looked completely different post surgery.  She was on a ventilator and there were so many tubes and lines coming out of her tiny little body.  We were hesitant to touch her but the fantastic nurses showed us what we could do, how we could help and answered our questions at the same time as running around Maya's bed carrying out checks.

Onwards & Upwards

Maya's fighting qualities became apparent and she got stronger every day and one by one, the tubes and lines came out. Soon she was well enough to be transferred from PICU to Rose Ward.  We spent a total of 2 weeks living at the Brompton.

Thanks to the amazing work of the Surgeons, Consultants, Registrars, Junior Doctors and the exceptional care of the Nurses, Nursery Nurses, Breastfeeding & Expressing Support team and the Playteam, Maya has made a full recovery and is a strong little girl now.  The Brompton saved our little girl's life and we are truly thankful and forever indebted to them.

The Brompton Fountain is an amazing charity that provides vital resources, support and equipment to seriously ill children and their families. All money raised will help make a difference to the lives of children with serious heart and lung conditions and their families.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story and your support is much appreciated.

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