A Sutton resident is calling on everyone to support the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) Christmas Appeal after her son stopped breathing three times in two years.
Claire Cathcart, 37, is supporting the BHF’s Christmas campaign after her son Jake, two, suffered two potentially life-threatening cardiac arrests and a respiratory arrest. The first cardiac arrest was when he was three weeks old in hospital, and he had a respiratory arrest at home just three months ago.
Jake has since been fitted with a pacemaker and had major surgery to close a hole in his heart on his first birthday, but it is likely that he will need a heart transplant in the future.
Each year, around 4,000 babies like Jake are diagnosed with a congenital heart defect in the UK – that’s 12 babies every day with many more diagnoses later in life. The BHF aims to raise over half a million pounds this Christmas, to help fund pioneering research into congenital heart disease, find new treatments and keep more little hearts beating. Visit christmas.bhf.org.uk to make a difference today.
Mum Claire explains: “Having to be ushered into a room after your tiny baby’s heart stops beating before your eyes is horrific. Even though he was resuscitated and we were eventually able to go home, after being trained in CPR by the nurses at Alder Hey Hospital, he gradually got more poorly. He was sick all the time and we spent entire days at home caring for him around the clock. This wasn’t the start to motherhood I expected.
“When we were told that Jake would be undergoing surgery, I felt relieved that there would finally be an end to our nightmare. But it wasn’t. After his surgery, he had another cardiac arrest and we were told he needed to go back into the operating theatre to close a hole in his heart. Part of me wanted to wait, in case the worst happened, as it was Jake’s first birthday.
“Jake was doing so well after his second surgery, but we had a setback a couple of months ago. It was distressing having to resuscitate a toddler so tiny but there was no alternative – I had to get him breathing again or I would lose my baby who had already fought so hard to be on this earth.
“There’s a chance he may need a new heart in the future, but we don’t let Jake’s heart problems define him – he’s the happiest little boy you could ever meet and our hero.”
Amanda Bringans, Director of Fundraising at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Sadly, many tiny hearts like Jake’s will be struggling this Christmas. That’s why we urgently need everyone’s support so that we can find new ways to prevent and support families having to go through this heartache. With your support, we can continue to fund the vital research needed to help keep these tiny hearts beating.”
Visit christmas.bhf.org.uk to make a one-off donation to the BHF this Christmas.