A mother and father from south-east London are raising money for Evelina London children’s hospital after staff saved their daughter’s life.
Baby Florence Fox was diagnosed aged just nine weeks with Mixed Mitral Valve Disease at Evelina London, a very rare condition where the heart’s mitral valve doesn’t work properly, which restricts the flow of blood and puts a strain on the heart.
She had life-saving open heart surgery at Evelina London, near Waterloo, when she was thirteen weeks old to replace her mitral valve. She is the smallest patient to undergo the procedure at the hospital.
Mother Jenny, 33, said: ” When Florence was born she made a strange squeaky noise whenever she breathed. At first I thought it was cute but as time went on it began to concern me. She wasn’t feeding properly so initially the GP thought it was reflux. When Florence was four weeks old she got Covid and was admitted to our local hospital. One of the doctors who checked her noticed that she had a heart murmur but he didn’t think it was anything serious and I was given a follow up outpatient appointment.
“I was in shock and worried about how I was going to cope as my other daughter was due to start school soon. But after all we had gone through we were relieved that we finally had an answer to all our questions.
“The doctors explained that the reason she wasn’t feeding properly was due to a build-up of fluid on her lungs which made feeding hard work and she was exhausted. They said she had chosen to breathe over feeding because she couldn’t do both.
“She needed to have surgery to replace her mitral valve but the doctors were concerned she was too small and they wanted to wait until she put weight on. She struggled to gain weight so in the end they went ahead with the surgery while she was still very small.”
Florence underwent the six hour operation in September 2021. She spent eight days at Evelina London before being discharged back home to finish recovering.
Jenny said: “It was really horrible waiting during Florence’s operation. We were so relieved when the doctors told us it went well. The surgeons could immediately see the benefit of the surgery as soon as she came off the heart bypass machine. It was clear she really needed to have it.
“The surgery has made a huge difference to Florence’s life. She is a very happy bubbly baby now. She is always babbling away and is hitting all of her milestones. She is feeding normally now and back on her bottles which has made life so much easier for us. It’s lovely to see her so content from feeding after all the difficulties she had before.”
Jenny and Billy, Florence’s father, 38, took part in London Landmarks half marathon on Sunday April 3 to raise money for the Evelina London Children’s Charity.
Jenny said: “Taking part in the London Landmarks half marathon is our way of saying thank you for all the brilliant care Florence has received at Evelina London.”
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