Alessia Mae is fast approaching her first birthday, but at birth she was sent urgently to her local hospital as she was critically low on oxygen and had open heart surgery at just a day old in Leeds.
Mum Tierney tells the full story…
“Alessia Mae was born on the 21st March 2024 with severely low oxygen levels. She was admitted to the NICU at Airedale where they suspected she had a problem with her heart that was causing the low oxygen.
“She urgently got blue lighted in an ambulance to Leeds Children’s Hospital. When she arrived they carried out a heart scan where she got diagnosed with critical pulmonary stenosis and other heart complications.
“Due to her diagnosis she required heart surgery at a day old to open up her pulmonary valve, that at birth was closed. Luckily the surgery worked and she was able to come off the ventilator the next day.
“She stayed at Leeds Children’s Hospital until she was 9 days old. After being discharged, we regularly attend cardiology appointments to monitor Alessia’s heart condition closely. In the future Alessia could be required to have heart surgery again.
“CHSF helped us throughout her treatment. They visited Alessia’s dad (Tom) on his arrival to Leeds hospital to explain what they did, how they could help and he received a very useful bags of goodies.
“Also, they ensured that Tom had accommodation during Alessia’s stay at hospital. During Alessia being on the ward it was Easter so, the CHSF visited all the children with the Easter Bunny and Alessia got a lovely Easter teddy!
“This was a lovely thing for them to do. It definitely cheered us all up and made us feel some sort of normality after being in hospital for nearly two weeks.
“If it wasn’t for the cardiology team and the amazing care we received at Leeds, Alessia wouldn’t be here today. So CHSF is a charity that is very close to our heart because they support the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit, the children and their parents.
“Without their incredible fundraising we might not have our beautiful baby girl today!”
Wear red in Feb for the thousands of children in our region like Alessia Mae!
Sign up to take part in Wear Red Day this February to raise vital awareness of congenital heart disease, and life-saving funds for CHSF!
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