Heart defects claim 400 children a year

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said another 4,000 children with birth heart problems will be starting school next week, and many will struggle with the demands of the classroom because of their condition.

The warnings come as the charity launches its ‘Bag it Beat it’ campaign, urging Britons to donate their old clothes to raise funds for ground-breaking research into heart problems.

Vicky Harris, 41, whose 10-year-old son Daniel had to undergo surgery after doctors discovered a 10mm hole in his heart, said research was desperately needed to ensure more children live for longer.

The football-mad youngster was diagnosed with a small hole in his heart when he was aged three, but this healed and his parents thought he was out of danger.

But Mrs Harris, a mother-of-two, said she and her husband Ray were terrified when doctors spotted a far bigger hole during a routine scan last July, and said their eldest son’s life expectancy would be cut in half unless he had open-heart surgery.

Mrs Harris, 41, from Purley in Surrey, said: “It was the worst thing in the world to hear – that your son has been diagnosed with something so awful. It was such a shock – it just came out of the blue.”

Daniel underwent open-heart surgery which went well, and the young Crystal Palace fan was out of hospital in four days, returned to school in six weeks, and back playing his beloved football with his friends in three months.

Mrs Harris, a part-time dental hygienist, said: “Daniel was so brave. I was crying and worried, but he just took it in his stride. We were so proud of him. And he recovered so quickly.

“But not all children get to have their first special day at school. The British Heart Foundation is so well known for supporting older people, but it is so important they get funding for research into how to do open-heart surgery safely on children.”

The BHF has funded research which has helped doctors understand how to fix holes like Daniel’s, but more research is needed.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the BHF, said: “Over the past 50 years, through painstaking research, we have seen amazing improvements in the survival of children born with congenital heart defects, but we still need much more research to ensure that children born with such defects have the greatest chance of living a long and healthy life.”

Heart problems are the most common birth defect, with 40,000 children going to school every day with a heart condition they were born with. Every week, 85 children are born with heart defects in the UK.