As a family, we are raising money for the British Heart Foundation in honour of our daughter Amalie who successfully underwent open heart surgery at just 2 weeks old.

Amalie was born with a congenital heart condition called Transposition of the Great Arteries, that meant she wouldn't be able to pump oxygenated blood around her body. TGA for short -  means the pulmonary artery arises from left ventricle instead of the right and the aorta arises from the right ventricle instead of the left. To add further complications she also had a large hole in her heart call a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). 

The severity of Amalie's condition meant that without intervention she would have been unlikely to make it to her first birthday. At just 2 weeks old, Amalie underwent life saving open heart surgery. Her life was saved because more than 30 years ago a British Heart Foundation Professor invented an operation known as 'the switch' to fix arteries of babies born with this condition. 

After a tough start Amalie is now a gorgeously beautiful bundle of joy who spends her time chasing her brother and sister around the house. She will need ongoing reviews for the rest of her life but other than that she should be able to live a normal life, all thanks to the amazing work of the BHF.

We will be forever indebted to the British Heart Foundation for all they have done for Amalie and the thousands of babies like her that are diagnosed each year with CHD. Your donations will help the BHF fund research to find crucial breakthroughs in Congenital Heart Disease. Any donations can help them improve the way babies, children and adults, born with congenital heart disease, are diagnosed and treated in order to beat the heartbreak caused by these conditions.

For example, £24 could pay for two hours of research by an early career scientist, but every pound helps so please give what you can to help us hit our target.

Big hugs, 

Matt, Soph, Thomas, Felicity and Amalie.