Boy with rare blood problems saved – by the hole in his heart

Alfie Howell has three separate heart conditions and the hole is counteracting his other issues.

Surgeons opted to keep the hole open in his heart when they operated on Alfie last month at the heart centre at Leeds Children’s Hospital

The toddler, of Halifax, has a hole in the heart, pulmonary stenosis – the thickening of an artery, as well as Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA).

Referring to Alfie’s TGA, John Thomson, consultant paediatric cardiologist at Leeds General Infirmary, said: “The blood vessel which is supposed to take the blood all around the body doesn’t do that with this condition, the blood just goes around the lungs. Conversely, the blood that should be going out to the lungs and then back to the heart and out to the body just circulates around the heart and then the oxygenated blood from the lungs doesn’t get around the body. But by having the hole in his heart, it allows enough oxygenated blood to go out to the body for him to be OK.”

Alfie’s mother, Anna Goldston, 27, is backing a campaign to save the centre, which is at risk of closure.