Heart op for brave Loughborough tot

Apr 5 2009 Sunday Mercury

LITTLE Oliver Pole, who was born with a heart defect, is the first British baby ever to undergo a pioneering operation to save his life.

The brave tot, aged 21-months, from Loughborough, is just the third person in the world to have the six-hour procedure – which saved him from undergoing a heart transplant.

Surgeons at Birmingham Children’s Hospital used the pioneering technique to change the pumping chambers of his heart around.

Oliver’s mum and dad, Janice and Matt, were left with two bleak choices when medics told them the youngster had a life-threatening heart defect.

They were advised they would either have to accept his condition, which meant he may not live to see his fifth birthday.

Or they were faced with a lengthy wait to find a suitable heart and lung transplant.

Then they heard about the pioneering surgery.

Janice, 40, said: “We were apprehensive about the operation because we didn’t know if it would work or not.

“We were sending him for this surgery and didn’t know if we would see him again.

“But doing nothing was not an option for us and the transplant option was risky.

“We would have to wait for a suitable heart to be available and that could be two months to two years.