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
SNOWCAP SQUIRREL
WITH A LITTLE cap of fresh snow resting on his head, this squirrel tries his best to pull off his new look .
BACK TO BASICS HOTEL
CAMPED out in the middle of a forest, these unusual hut hotels take you back to basics .
GRAVEYARDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
From the tails of fighter planes to black and white checked buildings, graveyards take different and unusual forms around the world .
GIRAFFES DUCK FOR COVER
DIPPING and diving their way through this bumpy journey, these giraffe's duck for cover as they dodge multiple cables and wires .
SHARK SELFIES
NOT YOUR everyday selfie, this plucky diver poses with some of the scariest predators in the ocean .
ZUMBA-MAD GRAN LOSES 14ST
A Zumba-mad grandma has lost almost 14st after becoming addicted to the popular dance craze .
CLIMBERS TACKLE 200FT TOTEM POLE
TOWERING 65 metres into the sky, this terrifying accent is a dream for climbers .
WOMAN LOSES 8ST TO DITCH 'FAT SISTER' TAG
A former takeaway addict, who once weighed 20st, has lost over 8st in a bid to ditch her ‘fat sister’ tag .
1940’S PHOTOSHOPPING MACHINE
CREATED over 60 years ago, this weighty machine was the Photoshop of its time .
BULLIES MADE MY 10 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER ANOREXIC
A mum has warned of the dangers of child eating disorders, after her 10-year-old daughter developed anorexia when school bullies branded her ‘FAT’ .
FISH AND BIRD TANGO
A trout manages to escape the jaws of a hungry cormorant - only to find itself back inside the bird's long beak .