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
ABANDONED OLD CROW COTTAGE

AN OLD ENGLISH cottage packed full of history and valuables has been left to rot .

VICTORIAN TENNIS RULE BOOK REVEALS GAME PLAYED BY THREE

TENNIS was a game made for three according to the first Victorian rule book .

SNEAKY OTTER

A young otter wades through a lake with his eyes set on an older rival’s fish .

WOMAN WHO SUFFERED 200 ALLERGIC REACTIONS CROWNED BEAUTY QUEEN

A woman who has suffered over 200 allergic reactions in seven years, has been crowned a BEAUTY QUEEN .

TEST COULD HAVE SAVED ME FROM CERVICAL CANCER AT 20

A young woman has told how she has been robbed of her fertility and now faces an uncertain future after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of just 22 .

FROZEN IN TIME LIGHTHOUSE

This frozen lighthouse in Michigan could easily be mistaken for a still from the snow swept disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow .

JUSTIN BIEBER FAN LOSES 7 STONE TO BE HIS 'GIRLFRIEND'

Bryanna Debinder, 20, from Pennsylvania in the USA, has lost 7 stone in order to impress her idol .

BRITISH BEACH-LIFE SPLIT SHOTS

UNDERWATER and above-water seaside shots show the best of British beach-life .

FROZEN BUBBLES CREATE STUNNING ICE CRYSTALS

A soap bubble lands on the frosty ground and creates a shimmering snow globe as crystals form around it .

EXERCISING OTTERS

A group of otters put on a show of aqua aerobics, as they raise their flippers perfectly in sync .

HOURS FROM DEATH: TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME NEARLY KILLED ME AFTER LEAVING TAMPON IN FOR FIVE DAYS

A mother-of-one has told how she nearly died after contracting toxic shock syndrome from a tampon .

POLAR BEAR HUG

LYING back in the snow, these two polar bears share a cuddle as they call time out on playtime .