Toddler’s tale shows heart unit must be spared

From: Janet E Rowntree, Escrick, York.

HAVING just written a letter of congratulations to Jeremy Hunt regarding his decision to refer the matter of the possible closures of children’s heart surgery units in Leicester, London and Leeds for review by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, I write to congratulate your newspaper for highlighting this concern on the front page (Yorkshire Post, October 23).

So very many of us must be hoping that the closure decisions will be reversed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Recently, I was reminded of this when I met a young toddler with his parents in York.

During our conversation, they told me that he would not have survived had they had to travel further afield for his heart surgery. It was totally apparent how very much that second chance meant to them.

They know, too, that he will need further surgery in the future.

How different their lives will be if that surgery can be carried out in Leeds rather than, say, Newcastle.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Having had wonderfully healthy children of my own, I cannot really imagine the horror of being confronted by the possibility of losing so very early in life, one’s precious child.

Therefore I’m very much hoping that all the three hospitals, under review, will be able to keep open their much needed children’s heart surgery units. It’s essential to invest in life and to offer the best that we can to children particularly.