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
AN ABANDONED HOUSE IN THE WOODS

INTIMATELY showcasing personal artefacts from a family's life, this abandoned bungalow has been left to rot for almost a decade .

FEARLESS CHEF SLAMS TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS WITH HILARIOUS INSULTS

FOR most restaurateurs, the phrase ‘the customer is always right’ is gospel .

POLAR BEARS HAVE A SPLASHING TIME

Playing, splashing and generally messing around, these polar bears show they certainly have a soft spot for the water, and not just each other .

ADORABLE SQUIRREL TRIES HER HAND AT PHOTOGRAPHY

A curious red squirrel takes a break from collecting nuts and tries her hand at photography .

OWNER REUNITED WITH PETLOG CAT AFTER KEEPERS HAND HIM BACK

A family who were refused the location of their missing cat under the Data Protection Act have been reunited with their moggie after the keepers handed him back .

WOMAN SAYS EATING BUBBLES WHILE PREGNANT WAS BETTER THAN SEX

A woman has told how her addiction to eating bath bubbles during her pregnancy was better than SEX .

WIDOW AWARDED £300K AFTER EX CONNED HER OUT OF THOUSANDS

A widow whose love rat ex-boyfriend left her homeless has had the last laugh after a judge ordered her ex to pay back £300,000 .

ABANDONED HOBBIT HOUSE

IN THE not so MISTY MOUNTAINS of Wiltshire, there lies an abandoned hobbit house .

BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH AR' KID

HOTSPOT MEDIA - BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH AR' KID: A POSTAL SORTER has perfected the art of time travel by delivering images that are from the past .

ADORABLE SQUIRRELS PREPARE FOR EASTER BREAK

Scurrying along the branch of a tree, a little squirrel pushes a pram packed full of Easter treats .

BABY WITH HEART-SHAPED BIRTHMARK CONCEIVED ON VALENTINE'S DAY

An adorable baby girl was born with a heart-shaped birthmark on her forehead - after being conceived on Valentine's Day .

POLAR BEAR PLAY

WITH SNOW COVERING the ground around them, these two polar bears play fight .