Yorkshire family hails miracles of modern research as boy born with two holes in his heart starts school

Freddie Craig, of the Duchy area of Harrogate, was born with a congenital heart condition which meant he had to undergo open heart surgery within a month of its discovery.

After Freddie took his first tentative steps into primary school, his parents spoke of their overwhelming thankfulness.

“We are just so grateful we live in this day and age, where this is something that can be fixed, where there are people that have these skills,” said his mother Hayley Craig, 42.

“To a surgeon, this is a ‘bread and butter’ operation, but when it’s your child it’s terrifying. It’s amazing, what they can do.”

One in 150 babies are diagnosed with a heart defect at birth in the UK, an average of 13 a day.

Fifty years ago, 80 per cent wouldn’t have lived to see their first birthday. Today, amid advances into heart research, 80 per cent survive to adulthood.

Freddie was born in May 2016, with doctors at the hospital picking up a heart murmur. This can be fairly common, and often goes away on its own, but the frightening challenge began when he struggled to gain weight.

For Mrs Craig and husband Robert, there followed a flurry of anxieties that many parents go through, wondering if he suffered from milk allergies or tongue tie or reflux. It was a health visitor that suggested they go for a scan, just to rule everything out.

“Even the lady doing the scan said she wasn’t expecting to find anything,” said Mrs Craig. “Then they sat us down. They found two holes in his heart, one very large, and they needed to operate.

“It was just crushing, knowing he would have to have open heart surgery at just three months old.”

Heart surgery

For a month, the family waited every day for a call, knowing that when it came, they would have just 24 hours notice.

But it was becoming increasingly clear it was needed – Freddie, at four months, still weighed just 10lb – and he went in for surgery on September 9, 2016.

“He had no energy,” said Mrs Craig. “It put such a strain on him, he was so tired. The hardest thing was watching him put to sleep in my arms. I didn’t know how to get through that day.”

Four years on, Freddie is a bright and happy boy, big brother to two-year-old Eliza, playing football every week and thriving at school in Beckwithshaw.

“He’s very shy, he likes to hold the teacher’s hand as he goes in,” said Mrs Craig. “But he couldn’t wait to start school, and he comes home happy every day.

“The only thing that’s left from the operation is Freddie’s badge of bravery, his scar, but even that fades every year. One day, when he’s ready, I’ll explain to him why he has it and how lucky we are that he’s still here.

“There’s nothing he can’t do,” she added. “We are so thankful, and to live in an age where something like this can be fixed.

“We are grateful for the amazing surgeons at Leeds General Infirmary and for the incredible research that charities such as Heart Research UK do into congenital heart disease that made it possible for us to see Freddie dressed in his school uniform for his first ever day of school.”

Charity research

Leeds-based charity Heart Research UK is funding over £1m of research in Yorkshire alone, having invested £27m in pioneering projects since 1967.

Head of research Helen Wilson said: “We have come such a long way in the treatment of congenital heart disease and advancements in surgery, thanks to medical research, have meant that procedures such as Freddie’s are now a lot safer.

“Clearly, there is much more that needs to be done to help children with congenital heart disease, like Freddie, and the best way to do that is by continuing to support this life-changing research.”

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Thank you

James Mitchinson