Parents of Wolverhampton heart baby raise funds for Birmingham hospital that saved their son's life
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A Wolverhampton couple whose son needed major open heart surgery at just three days old are raising funds for the hospital that saved his life.
Jonathan and Jade Challenger, of Codsall, near Wolverhampton, were left completely devastated when their son, Henry, was born with life-threatening heart defects in August 2011 and were told he needed immediate open heart surgery or he would not survive.
The operation to widen the aortic arch in Henry’s heart was carried out by specialist heart surgeons at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and five months on, Henry is now doing really well at home with his family.
His parents have set up an Appeal Fund, called Henry’s Heroes, to raise much needed funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Heart Unit which saves the lives of hundreds of babies/children each year. They are appealing for local businesses and residents to help them raise as much money as possible.
The couple, who also have a five-year-old son called Alfie, are planning to get both boys christened at St Nicholas Church in Codsall on April 22nd – followed by a major fundraising event at Somerford Hall, in Brewood, which is where they got married.
Somerford Hall has kindly agreed to let them use the venue free of charge for the fundraising Christening. There will be lots of activities at the event including a raffle and prize auction and all of the proceeds will be donated to Birmingham Children’s Hospital Heart Appeal.
They are appealing for local businesses to donate prizes for the raffle.
Mrs Challenger, aged 29, who works as a teacher at Brewood Middle School, said today: “When I was pregnant with Henry, I was told at my 16 week scan that there was a high possibility that the baby could have a heart problem which came as a huge shock to us and we were really upset and worried for our unborn baby.
“From then on, my care was transferred to Birmingham Women's hospital where they have a specialist fetal medicine unit. I had several tests and scans throughout my pregnancy to diagnose the problem. Despite being warned that my baby would be born with a heart condition, nothing could have prepared us for how utterly heartbreaking it would be. I suppose I was always in the back of my mind hoping for a small miracle and hoping the doctors had got it wrong.
“A scan immediately after Henry was born showed that the diagnosis made during pregnancy by Dr Paul Miller at Birmingham Women's Hospital had been correct and he had Hypoplastic aortic arch and two holes in the heart. The paediatric cardiologists told us that Henry would need to be transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital and have immediate open heart surgery or he would not survive. It was so heartbreaking seeing my 3 day old baby go through such a huge operation but we had to find the strength to be there for him, Henry was so brilliant and brave.”
Mr Challenger, 30, who works as a Bank Manager at Lloyds TSB, says they couldn’t have got through it without the fantastic support from staff in the heart unit and intensive care unit.
He said: “We had never been through anything like this in our lives so it was all so daunting and terrifying. But the nurses and surgeons at the hospital were completely amazing. Little touches helped us so much – like being shown by a lovely nurse that it was ok to hold our baby despite all the wires and tubes attached to him.
“One of the lovely nurses Rachel Stevenson patched up Henry’s teddy with a bandage and an ‘chest open’ sticker on his chest, just like our baby would have after his surgery. We’ve kept that teddy – it’s so special to us. Another nurse made a ‘bravery certificate’ for Henry when he came out of surgery. These simple acts of kindness showed us at the time that these people cared and that really mattered to us.
“And we were in total awe of the surgeon Natasha Khan who ultimately saved our son’s life,” he added.
The couple were also able to move into free charity accommodation at the Ronald McDonald House next to the hospital while Henry was poorly. This enabled them to spend much needed time with their other son, Alfie.
Jade added: “Our baby boy was critically ill when he was born and he would not have survived without the expertise and care of staff at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
“Henry will be a lifelong patient at the hospital and may need further surgery in the future, but at the moment he is doing really well and to look at his beautiful smiling face you would never guess what he has been through in his short life. We are so proud of him.
“We want to show our gratitude to staff at the hospital for saving his life which is why we’ve set up Henry’s Heroes.
We want to help them to be able to continue their amazing work and help save the lives of other poorly children,” she added.
Businesses who would like to donate a prize to the raffle should call Jade’s sister, Natalie, on 07947 161371.
Anyone who wants to make a donation to Henry’s Heroes can do so by either calling Natalie or by logging on to www.justgiving.com/HenrysHeroes
Information:
Did you know that almost one in every hundred children is born with a heart problem?
Or that congenital heart defects are the most common of all life-threatening abnormalities?
Birmingham Children’s Hospital has one of the busiest Children’s Heart Centres in the UK. The internationally renowned Cardiac Unit sees over 10,000 children a year, with approximately 80% of surgeries being open-heart procedures, and around 60% performed on children under 12 months old.
Over the last five years, the demand for the hospital’s cardiac services has increased dramatically. This is due to the fact that they can now treat more conditions than ever and because their excellent reputation is becoming more widely known around the UK.
The hospital has launched a Heart Appeal to raise funds to replace the ageing facility with a new state-of-the-art one – and add a second cardiac theatre. This will be a new ‘hybrid’ cardiac theatre, the first of its kind at a UK children’s hospital. Here they will be be able to perform surgical procedures and keyhole techniques simultaneously, offering exciting new horizons for the conditions they treat. It will also reduce the number of operations that children may need – and their lengths of stay in hospital.
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