Olivia caught a virus, called Enterovirus, which attacked her heart, causing it to become irreversibly damaged.

Olivia was born naturally and well on Tuesday 26th June 2012. She was admitted to Poole Hospital aged 6 days due to dramatic weight loss and became very unwell very suddenly. The retriveal team came from the PICU team at Southampton Hospital to try and stabilise her and get her to Southampton. At this stage it was not clear what the exact problem with the heart was. Initially they thought it may have been a problem with the way the heart had formed but on arrival at Southampton it was clear that the heart was formed normally but was not working.

Olivia's heart stopped in the ambulance on the way from Poole to Southampton and the team got her heart working again. It was clear she could not survive without the help of a heart and lung support machine and so she was immediately placed on an ECMO machine.

The PICU team then learnt that she had a virus that had caused the heart muscle to become extremely damaged and stop working.

The hope was that Olivia could buy some time on the life support machine to allow the heart to recover. Unfortunately this was not to be and it became clear that the heart muscle had become so damaged that it could not recover.

With great sadness Olivia was taken off the life support in her mother's arms and peacefully went to Heaven aged 2 weeks.

To complete the London Marathon in Olivia's memory and to raise more money for BLISS will be a very proud moment in my life. 

Any donation you can make will help improve the care that premature and sick babies receive.

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