Exclusive by Aline Nassif

aline.nassif@essnmedia.co.uk

Most parents would be horrified if their baby was born with

a hole in the heart.

But thanks to a remarkable twist of fate, one saved

eight-week-old Charlotte's life by cancelling out another

incredibly rare heart defect.

Now, her jubilant mum and dad Katie and Nick Litchfield say

they feel like the luckiest parents alive.

Katie, 30, said: "We're over the moon. Charlotte is healthy

and perfect.

"I prayed every day when she was sick, and someone was

listening."

Charlotte had a rare disease called Transposition of Great

Vessels (TGV) which normally would have killed her in her

mother's womb.

The disease stops the lungs getting oxygen but because she

had a hole in the heart this didn't happen.

Although her birth was something of a miracle when she was

born at Mayday Hospital on July 3 she still faced a battle for

life.

First-time parents Katie and Nick, of Brighton Road, Purley,

weren't aware at the time that she was lucky even to be alive

but knew something was not right.

Katie, who underwent a gruelling 48-hour labour, said: "We

knew something was wrong when she wasn't feeding 24 hours after

birth.

"The doctors scanned her heart and they told us they'd need

to get a second opinion.

"From that moment on we were expecting bad news."

A consultant then told them she had been born with TGV.

Charlotte was immediately sent for specialist treatment at

London's St Thomas's Hospital.

Katie said: "You think you're going to take your baby home

in the car seat.

"But suddenly you're looking at this little baby thinking

'My God, how long have I got her for?'

"The funeral goes through your mind and it's so emotional,

especially with all the hormones running high."

The next morning, Charlotte, who weighed a healthy 7lbs 9oz,

was taken to the Evelina Children's Hospital at St Thomas's,

where a paediatric consultant's first words were "she's going

to be okay".

Charlotte underwent open heart surgery at the age of one

week, which corrected both the TGV and the hole in the

heart.

She now has a large scar – but it is a small price to pay

for life.

It was only after the relief of the operation going well

that the couple were able to reflect on how fortunate Charlotte

had been to have a hole in the heart.

TGV means her heart was plumbed the wrong way round.

In a normal heart, blood comes from the body to the right

pump, into the lungs and back into the left pump from where it

is pumped around the body.

But for Charlotte, and other TGV sufferers, the arteries are

the wrong way round so oxygenated blood can't get to the

lungs.

However, a hole in the heart – which effectively joins both

pumps together – means crucially oxygenated blood can get to

the lungs, albeit inefficiently.

Katie believes the experience will stand her daughter in

good stead for life.

She said: "If she can do open heart surgery at one week old,

she can do anything."

*Katie would like to highlight the work of the National

Childbirth Trust which supported her throughout her pregnancy.

It will be holding a pregnancy and baby fair at All Saints

Church Hall, in Onslow Gardens, Sanderstead, between 11am and

2pm on Saturday September 27.