BRAVEHEART: BABY GIRL SURVIVES HEART SWELLING TO SIZE OF ORANGE
A baby girl has become the youngest British patient to receive a life-saving cardiac operation after her heart swelled to twice its normal size within days of her birth. Little Phoebe Whittle was just four weeks old when medics had to battle to save her life from a congenital defect which gave her tiny heart only a third of the oxygen it needed to work. Mum Charlotte 27, and husband Carl, 32, looked on in horror as she failed to breathe normally and turned blue within days of being born. Phoebe had been born with ALCAPA, Anomalous Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery, that meant the artery to her heart muscle was connected incorrectly, starving it of oxygen.As a result, Phoebe's heart ballooned to twice its size - swelling from the size of a walnut to the size of an apple. But incredibly, the tiny tot - dubbed 'Braveheart' by her proud parents, made a stunning recovery following groundbreaking surgery at Alder Hey Children's Hospital
Other great stories
FOUR-YEAR-OLD TWIN BOY BELIEVES HE'S A GIRL
A mum from Gloucestershire has accepted her four-year-old twin son’s decision to live full time as a girl - and is now letting him wear a skirt to school .
‘PEG-LEG’ AMPUTEE OVERCOMES BULLIES TO MODEL LINGERIE
An amputee who was cruelly nicknamed 'peg-leg' by school bullies has conquered her insecurities to become a model .
GOING BALLISTIC - 15 FOOT RED BALL ARTIST
This is the crazy art project that is going ballistic - placing a huge squishy 15ft red ball into tight spaces .
CUDDLY TRAVEL BUNNY IS STOLEN AFTER JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD
An intrepid explorer hopes to be reunited with his travel partner, after his cuddly toy companion was stolen .
DRIVER TRAPPED UNDER 4x4 FOR AN HOUR IN HORRIFIC MOTORWAY CRASH
This was the chaotic scene when the driver of a 4x4 vehicle became periously trapped under his vehicle for an HOUR when it overturned after a crash on a busy motorway .
ABANDONED DAIRY FARM'S EERIE PAST
HEARTWARMING belongings lie abandoned in this eerie former dairy farm which has been left to crumble away for decades .
CHIPS IN: MAN MAKES £4K A MONTH SENDING POTATOES IN THE POST
A man has made a SPUD-TACULAR amount of money sending potatoes in the post .
STUNNING INTERSTELLAR PATTERNS
IN a galaxy far, far away, this collection of stunning interstellar formations will leave you STARSTRUCK .
RAPED TWICE BY MY SISTER'S FRIEND, AND HE TOOK PICTURES
Brave Amy, 18, has waived her anonymity to tell how she jailed rapist Philip Sims-Neighbour, 37, of Hylton Road, Worcester .
ARRR-DORABLE ONE-EYED PIRATE KITTEN
AN ADORABLE one-eyed kitten has been dubbed the 'pirate cat' because of his pirate-like facial expressions .
'GO JUMP OFF A CLIFF' - GO COMPARE BILLBOARDS BEING DEFACED?
At first glance it might look like someone has taken their revenge on the makers of those infuriating insurance ads .
WOMAN LOSES 11ST AFTER £11K GASTRIC SLEEVE OP
A woman has shed half her body weight after undergoing a gastric sleeve op to shrink her stomach .