Parents praised medics after girl's heart surgery

"The words thank you just aren't enough," the parents of an 11-year-old girl have said, after an air ambulance whisked their daughter for vital heart surgery.

Verity, from Congleton, Cheshire, needed the operation to repair a valve in her heart, after a large amount of her blood was found by doctors to be flowing the wrong way.

She had initially been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when she was six months old but her parents said she had managed for many years with only occasional setbacks.

However, during a family holiday in Devon last summer, she became unwell and was taken at first to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.

With dilated cardiomyopathy, the muscle walls of the heart cannot squeeze properly to pump blood around the body, according to the NHS.

At the hospital, doctors learned the leak in one of her heart's valves had got worse, meaning nearly three-quarters of her blood was flowing in the wrong direction.

It became clear she would need surgery to repair the valve and she was taken by the Air Ambulance Service's helicopter to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for specialist treatment.

The flight took 48 minutes, saving almost five hours compared with travelling by road, a spokesperson for the service said.

For the journey itself, the helicopter landed at a nearby airport, where a land ambulance completed the journey to the hospital.

"Coming off the helicopter and stepping onto the landing pad was overwhelming," Verity's mum Katie said.

"There were so many people there just for Verity. When you step back, it's incredible to realise this service is there for your child when you need it most."

The youngster, who loves to perform tap dancing and theatre, spent a short time in the high dependency unit before she underwent open heart surgery to repair her valve.

She was discharged a week later and her mother said she had gradually regained her strength and energy.

"There were some small wobbles but once they found the right combination of medication, she really started improving," Katie said.

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