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
WOMAN LOSES 10ST AND DITCHES HUSBAND AFTER 'FAT COW' JIBE

A former size 30 comfort-eater ditched her husband and lost over 10st after he called her a 'fat cow' .

SQUIRREL VS DINOSAUR

A feisty squirrel takes on a fearsome foe when he decides to tackle a T-REX .

MY ANOREXIC CAT CURED MY ANOREXIA

A young woman who once weighed the same as 12-year-old girl has told how a severely malnourished cat helped save her life and beat her anorexia .

HOP ON! FASHIONABLE FROG TRIES A SNAIL HAT ON FOR SIZE

FLAUNTING its new accessory, a fashionable green dumpy tree frog poses for the camera while wearing a SNAIL as a hat .

IDYLLIC ICELAND

With stunning scenery and otherworldly vistas, Iceland’s rural beauty is inescapable – especially for Hollywood .

BABY BABOON GOES BANANAS FOR ACROBATIC MONKEY

Most people bend over backwards to keep children entertained, but this baboon show us how it’s done .

OLD BUS TRANSFORMED INTO AMAZING HOLIDAY LET

FULLY equipped with a kitchen and lounge, it's hard to believe this modern holiday let is actually a BUS .

TIME TRAVELLING PHONE APP

OFFERING a glimpse into the past, a mash-up of old and new photographs show how the world’s biggest cities have changed .

BACKFLIPPING SHARK SOARS DURING SEAL HUNT

Exploding out of the water, a great white shark performs a backflip during a hunt for seals .

NINE YEAR OLD GIRL'S 'PULLED MUSCLE' TURNS OUT TO BE CANCER

A nine year old girl nearly lost her leg after doctors initially misdiagnosed her bone cancer as a pulled muscle .

MIDDLE-AGED SOMERSET COUPLE TAKE UP WRITING TO DEATH ROW INMATES

A middle-aged couple from Somerset have developed a rather unusual hobby to occupy their time: writing to killers on death row .