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
SINGING STOAT

MOUTH OPEN wide, this little stoat appears to be in mid-song as he belts out a tune for his onlookers .

MOST DANGEROUS ROAD IN THE WORLD

AT 4,800 metres high and just three metres wide, this is the most dangerous road in the world .

£34m TAX FRAUD RACKET JAILED

A man who conned tax officials out of £34 million and funded a lavish lifestyle of luxury hotels and restaurants has been jailed for one of the longest sentences in British criminal fraud history .

SNOWCAP SQUIRREL

WITH A LITTLE cap of fresh snow resting on his head, this squirrel tries his best to pull off his new look .

WOMAN SPENDS £30K ON HELLO KITTY ADDICTION 

A shoe designer from London has spent a whopping £30,000 on Hello Kitty memorabilia .

AMAZING JOHNNY DEPP LOOKALIKE MISTAKEN FOR REAL DEAL

Whenever 46-year-old Melo Masi steps out of his front door in Berkshire, he risks being mobbed by strangers desperate for a selfie - all because of his incredible likeness to Hollywood megastar, Johnny Depp .

RABID GIRL BIT NIGHTCLUBBER BECAUSE SHE WAS HUNGRY

A woman who left a fellow nightclubber needing plastic surgery after savagely biting her on the hand because she was hungry, has been spared prison .

SPECTACULAR SCENERY AT CHILEAN OBSERVATORIES

An Italian photographer travelled to Chile where he visited several star-gazing sites, home to some of the world's most advanced telescopes, located in the spectacular setting of the Atacama desert .

PORCUPINES COME CLOSE TO VICTORY AGAINST PRIDE OF HUNGRY LIONS

Jostling their quills into the noses of some unlucky cubs, this is the moment two feisty porcupines ALMOST defeat a pride of seven lions .

WOMAN TOO SCARED TO LEAVE HOUSE AFTER HORROR HAIR DYE REACTION

A woman who suffered from an allergic reaction to hair dye that made her face swell to twice its size has been left too scared to leave the house .

AIR OF THE DOG: HILARIOUS FLYING POOCHES

FLYING through the air, these delighted pooches pull their best poses mid-flight .

MY MUM DONATED HER KIDNEY TO MY HUBBY – HIS LIFE IS TRANSFORMED

In 2021, Anneka Watkinson, now 37, from Lancashire, met Chris, now 40 .