Baby Arthur celebrates a special first birthday with the hospitals that saved his life
A baby boy has celebrated a very special birthday along with medics at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, which helped save his life after he was born with a rare and complex heart condition.
Arthur Ryan said hello to the world at Birmingham Women’s Hospital, where it was discovered at mum Geri’s 20-week scan that he had the congenital condition Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) – which is when the main blood vessels (pulmonary artery and aorta) that leave the heart are the wrong way around.
This early diagnosis by Dr Anna Seale, Fetal Cardiologist, was crucial to Arthur’s life expectancy after birth and his recovery rate.
After Arthur was born he was quickly transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital by the Kids Intensive Care Decision Support and Neonatal Transfer Service (KIDS NTS), and at just three days old underwent life-saving open heart surgery with a five-hour arterial switch operation.
After spending 11 days at the specialist paediatric hospital under the care of its world-renowned Cardiac team, including time on the Paediatric Intensive Care Ward (PICU) and Neonatal Cardiac Ward, Arthur was able to go back to his home in Great Barr.
He attends regular check-ups and made a special trip with mum and dad, Jak, on his first birthday last week to visit the teams who cared for him.
Mum Geri, Assistant Merchandiser, aged 31 said:
“It was a pleasure to see so many other special people today not in this picture, who have been crucial and all played their part in Arthur's first year of life.
“Both Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals are truly wonderful places. The staff should be very proud to work there and positively impact so many people’s lives. We are forever grateful to them for our little boy.”
The two specialist hospitals integrated on 1 February 2017; becoming the first Trust of its kind, providing the best seamless care for women, children and families in the region. Over the last 12 months they’ve welcomed over 120,000 patients.
Dr Anna Seale, Fetal Cardiologist at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust said:
“To see Arthur thrive and do so well is an absolute pleasure and the reason we come to work each day and night.
“It is extremely stressful for a family to learn their unborn baby has a heart condition, so we strive to prepare and support them through this difficult time.”