From being diagnosed with CHD at just 3 days old to overcoming multiple heart surgeries, Abraham is a true heart warrior!
As well as funding our life-saving Heart Unit where he was treated, Children’s Heart Surgery Fund have played a crucial role in supporting Abraham and his family on his journey so far.
Abraham’s mum, Katherine, said:
Abraham was diagnosed with CHD when he was three days old. They found he had multiple heart defects, and we were rushed across to Leeds from Jessops Wing in Sheffield the following day.
Due to Abraham being born prematurely, he was too small for surgery, so we were cared for on neonates for three weeks until he had his first open heart surgery in “the hybrid” theatre.
For the first 12 weeks of his life, we thought he was going down the single ventricle route of surgery but by some miracle on the morning of his second open heart surgery his surgeon, Mr Jaber, came and told us he thought he can do a full heart repair.
A long 10 hours later, Abraham was out of surgery. Mr Jaber had worked his magic and he had repaired our boy’s heart.
However, his recovery wasn’t smooth to start with and one week later he had a pacemaker fitted as he was still in ‘heart block’ following his repair.
Heart block is a condition where the heart beats more slowly or with an abnormal rhythm. It’s caused by a problem with the electrical pulses that control how your heart beats.
A pacemaker is a small electrical device that’s implanted in the chest or abdomen. It’s used to treat some abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) and sends electrical pulses to the heart to keep it beating regularly.
After this, Abraham flourished, and he grew stronger and stronger.
As we left hospital the aim was to get Abraham to his first birthday before we discussed any further surgery. Abraham way exceeded this and on the 5th January 2024 he had his third open heart surgery, aged 4 years 7 months old.
In this surgery he had a resection of his aortic valve membrane and his pacemaker replaced (he is pacing himself and was pre-surgery too).
On writing this, he is now 20 days post-surgery and doing amazingly!
Children’s Heart Surgery Fund have helped us so much throughout our journey as a family, navigating the new world of CHD.
Without their support we wouldn’t have been able to stay close to Abraham during his time in hospital. His first admission was for 16 weeks. We were helped financially during our first admission too, which was a great help as living in hospital isn’t cheap.
Abraham also loves his Katie Bears and certificates!
CHSF gives us opportunities to meet other heart mums and dads. We enjoy meeting and talking to other parents who share the same experiences as us. As Abraham gets older, I believe he will benefit from meeting other children who have gone through what he has too.
On our latest admission it was lovely to meet Family & Youth Support Worker, Lucy!
Callie-Mae after BBC Saving Lives in Leeds
Heart warrior Callie-Mae recently featured on BBC documentary ‘Saving Lives In Leeds’. In the final episode of the series, we followed Callie’s story as her family prepared for her to have open heart surgery, performed by surgeon Osama Jaber at the Leeds Congenital...
Palliative care training for over 90 nurses
Because of your superb support, CHSF were able to fund an educational event focussing on palliative care in babies and children with CHD. The event was attended by over 90 nurses and clinicians from across the Yorkshire and Humber region. Cat Brown, Lead Nurse for the...
CHSF grant £10,000 to Eckersley House
We are thrilled to announce we have awarded a grant of £10,000 to Eckersley House ‘Home from Home’ run by The Sick Children’s Trust, thanks to your donations. Eckersley House gives families with a seriously ill child at Leeds Children’s Hospital a place to stay just...