In 2013 my wife Sally and I were expecting the arrival of our first baby. Everything was going fine until a late scan for my wife's low laying placenta showed our unborn baby had a problem.......That problem was our baby's heart. After a scan at the Leeds heart unit we discovered that our baby would be born with what is know as ventricular septal defect (VSD) or to me and you a hole in the heart. It's fair to say our world was rocked by this news and we didn't know what the future would hold for our unborn child. On 2nd April 2013 Sally gave birth to a baby girl who we named Isla...all was fine at the birth and we were told we would need to return to the Leeds heart unit for further scans on Isla. After only 2 weeks at home following a routine midwife appointment we were urgently referred to Leeds general infirmary after Isla had lost weight and stopped feeding. One again our world was in turmoil as we were admitted into the LGI to enable them to they carried out various test and scans to fully diagnose the extent of Isla's heart problem. It soon became apparent that the hole was a lot bigger that first seen and Isla would need to undergo emergency open heart surgery. After many hours in surgery the surgeon called us to see him and told us he was not able to do what he needed to do to fix the VSD in Islas heart as she was too small and had a very complex heart, he had however been able to make a 'temporary repair' but once she was bigger and stronger Isla would again have to undergone further surgery to repair her heart. After many months of appointments and check ups Islas surgeon decided that at 9 months old Isla was ready for him to once again try and fix her heart. In January 2014 we once again handing Isla over to her amazing heart surgeon in the hope that this time he would be able to 'fix' our baby girl. After over 8 hours in surgery, the surgeon called us to see him and we were  told the fantastic news he had managed to fix the VSD  and Isla was going to be fine......Isla is now 3 years old and is doing fantastic she is doing so well she only has to go for  a check up every 2 years....Isla with the help of everyone who helps the fight against congenital heart disease fought this and that is why I'm running the London marathon so I can help the fight against it too. So if you too would like to help Isla, Sally and myself fight this then please donate as little or as much as you would like. Your donation really counts in helping rthe British heart foundation and its reaseaerch. The BHF don't just help children they help men/women of all ages and do fantastic work to help all types of heart disease and we never really know when we may need their help. Thank you for taking  the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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