“After 7 weeks in hospital, we are finally home with our little girl – Honey.
“Honey has been through more in her first 7 weeks of life than most of us will in a lifetime.
“Born with a heart defect – coarctated aorta – she’s battled a chest infection, a stomach infection, and a 6-hour open heart surgery to repair her heart.
Coarctation of the aorta means part of the main artery in the body is narrower than it should be. The narrowing stops blood from flowing as easily as it should, so the heart has to work harder to pump blood through the body. This can cause the left ventricle (one of your heart’s main pumping chambers) to become thicker and your heart to become weaker.
“Through it all she has shown a strength that we can only describe as incredible. She will have a scar, but that scar will always be a testament to her bravery and how hard she has fought from day one. We couldn’t be prouder of her.
“We want to publicly thank all of the amazing staff at Leeds Children’s Hospital who cared for her over the past 7 weeks. You truly are unbelievable at what you do. A special thank you to Dr Jaber, who performed the life-saving operation that has given her the chance to live a long and healthy life.
“We’re also so grateful to the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund for their support, and to our close friends and family who have helped us more than they probably realise during this time.
“Now we’re finally home, we can start being a normal family and focus on what really matters – making memories together.”
— Honey’s parents, Connor & Kate
Because of you, we can keep being there for heart heroes like Honey and their families.
By making a donation to CHSF you are ensuring vital funding to the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit and personalised support to families when they need us most.
Lily Doyle
Lily's story, told by dad, Richard "On the 10th May 1990 our second child, Lily Doyle, was born. She was quite frail and was sick after most feeds, but in our limited experience as parents (one other child at 18 months old) this was quite normal." This continued for...
Toy MRI for MRI Research
With your help we have funded some special toy MRI equipment to help young patients. MRI research nurse Ruth Foley tells this very special “Because of You” story! Meet James! James is 6 years old and has Tetralogy of Fallot. Read his backstory here. James came to...
James Noonan
From: Leeds Mum: Claire CHD: Tetralogy of Fallot James was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot at our 20 week scan. At 4 days old James was ready to have his tiny heart stented and he did not have a name. So before he went for his procedure we named him James. Dr...







