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
VETERAN BEATEN IN REMEMBRANCE WEEKEND ATTACK

A PENSIONER was left with a fractured jaw after being beaten and robbed outside his home in Birmingham last weekend .

BOY, 6, ALMOST BLIND AFTER ONE-IN-MILLION ALLERGIC REACTION

A six-year-old boy has been left almost blind after a one-in-a-million allergic reaction to antibiotics .

SEEING DOUBLE - A TWO HEADED TURTLE BORN AT TEXAS ZOO

The San Antonio Zoo in Texas has welcomed a bizarre new addition - a two-headed turtle named Thelma and Louise .

CANCER DRUG FIGHT DAD DIES, EVEN AFTER LYING TO GET TREATMENT

A former soldier who bravely took on penny-pinching NHS bosses in his fight against terminal cancer has died, aged 37 .

DARK DISNEY

THESE are the Disney Princesses you wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley .

FOUND NEMO

A curious clownfish peaks through the tentacles of a sea anemone .

MUM SPENDS £17K ON HER REBORN BABIES

When mum-of-three Becky Tully was told she couldn’t have any more children due to health reasons, she refused to give up on having the little girl she had always wanted .

BASHFUL ORANGUTAN

A young orangutan comes over all shy as she hides her face behind a broken bucket .

ROAD-KILL CUDDLY TOYS

With their guts spewing and eyes hanging out, these are the cuddly toys children might be reluctant to curl up to .

SMALLEST HOUSE IN THE UK

WELCOME to the pretty 122-inch-tall red dwelling that lays claim to the title of the UK's smallest house .

MILLION DOLLAR MARILYN - WOMAN MAKES FORTUNE AS LOOKALIKE

A former cosmetic rep who swapped make-up for a career as a Marilyn Monroe lookalike has pocketed a staggering $4million (£2,630,000) as a full-time doppelgänger .

FIGHT CUB

JUMPING and bouncing off one another, these young cheetahs enjoy some harmless fun .