THE youngest patient on the UK transplant waiting list, an eight-week old baby, has received a new heart.
A Europe-wide appeal to help Charlie Douthwaite, who was born with half a heart, was launched last month.
The youngster, who suffers from hypoplastic left heart syndrome, underwent a nine-hour operation at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.
His mother, Tracie Wright, thanked the donor family for giving Charlie “a second chance at life”.
“They’ve given my baby a second chance at life and for that I’ll be forever grateful,” she said.
“His skin colour is amazing – he was so blue all the time to being so peachy and pink. Perfect.
“It felt like a miracle.”
Charlie had to have open heart surgery when he was three days old after being born weighing 6lbs 5oz.
By the age of five weeks, he had undergone 11 operations.
Dr Zdenka Reinhardt, a cardiologist at the Freeman Hospital, said he had been “extremely lucky considering his condition and his size”.
Doctors hope he will be well enough to leave hospital in the New Year.
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe