This year Sam and I will be rounding up some of Millies Mudders and turning them into Mountaineers as we take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge!!

Millie Hope Chandler was born on Thursday October 1st, 2020, weighing a tiny 5lb 3oz.

At our 20 week scan, Millie was diagnosed with a heart defect called Transposition of the Great Arteries. Millies main arteries to and from her heart were the wrong way round, meaning oxygenated blood wouldn't circulate her little body. Millie would need major open heart surgery to fix her poorly heart💔

Millie arrived into the world screaming, at 9:20pm on Thursday evening and was quickly assessed by some wonderful nurses and moved to the NICU unit at the Birmingham Women's Hospital. Millies oxygen levels were great, and she required very little support! Our little warrior was stronger than the Drs expected!

At 3 days old, Millie was transferred to Birmingham Childrens Hospital. Millie underwent open heart surgery at 12 days old. Surgery lasted nearly 7 hours, where her wonderful surgeon Dr Tim Jones fixed her poorly heart ❤️

Sadly, Millie suffered a cardiac arrest 2 days later, due to rising infection levels. It was the day our world came crashing down around us. Millie was so very poorly, so the decision was made to place her onto ECLS, an advanced life support machine, to let her little body rest.

The next 2 weeks were filled with set back after set back; 3 failed attempts at coming off the life support, a circuit change of the ECLS, pneumothoraces (air leaks outside her lungs), too many blood transfusions to remember, and nurses that became our family. Covid was a force to be reckoned with, so we found ourselves on our own away from our own support network.

Millie did however get to meet her amazing grandparents, and most importantly, her big sister, Evie 💕

Our hearts were broken forever on the morning of 2nd November 2020, when Millie's life support was switched off 💔 her tiny little body had endured so much, and she was a fighter right until the end. Millie passed away in her Mommy's arms, after Daddy had a cuddle and read her 'Guess How Much I Love You'.

Millie changed our lives.

A baby is born with a serious heart condition every two hours in the UK and despite congenital heart disease being one of the biggest killers of infants, only around half of congenital heart defects are picked up during routine prenatal scanning.

With your help we can provide a safety net for the 1,000 babies each year that leave hospital with their heart defect undetected, increasing detection rates, improving a baby’s chances of survival and long-term quality of life.