Mother relishes the gift of life for her brave daughter

A WOMAN will be receiving the best present possible for Mothers' Day – a cuddle from her little girl who defied the odds to enjoy it with her.

Gabrysia Filarowski, who celebrated her second birthday last Sunday, shot to the top of the European heart transplant list after she was born with a rare heart defect and given just days to live.

But she has made an astonishing recovery and has already written a Mothers' Day card for her mother Angela.

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A donor came forward at the last minute in July last year and she pulled through a life-saving operation leaving her among the happiest mothers in the country this weekend.

The baby was so poorly that she turned shades of yellow and blue after being born with double inlet right ventricle – meaning she had three heart chambers instead of the normal four.

Even when doctors found a suitable heart for her she was not in the clear as her body produced so many antibodies it almost rejected the new organ.

The use of the drug Bortezomib, which had never been used on a child before, pushed her antibody count down and she overcame the condition.

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Mrs Filarowski, a 32-year-old, mother-of-three, who lives in Leeds, said: "It doesn't matter whether I get anything for Mothers' Day now because I have already got the best present I could ask for with Gabrysia still being here.

"Last Mothers' Day was really emotional because it was our first one together and I thought it would be our last as well.

"For her to be here and so full of life and energetic is a miracle.

"I just feel like the proudest mummy in the world.''

Gabrysia still needs to go to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle every four weeks but her mother has never seen her happier, saying: "She is absolutely fantastic at the moment, probably the best she has ever been.''