18 month old Sophia from Stoke was born with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). There are many different types and forms of CHD but in Sophia’s case, the left side of her heart is underdeveloped.
At mum Jasmine’s 20 week scan, medics detected a problem with Sophia’s heart and a 4D scan found her heart valves were twisted.
Sophia was born in Liverpool Women’s Hospital and on the same day she was transferred to Alder Hey’s neonatal unit. Sophia was meant to have an operation at birth, but her heart had developed better than expected so she spent some time in the neonatal unit so the cardiac team could closely monitor her.
After three weeks, Sophia was discharged home. Normally, babies born with cardiac problems can expect to spend some time in hospital but thanks to a remote platform called Little Hearts at Home, Sophie was able to be cared for from home.
The platform works by linking up the cardiac team at Alder Hey, patients and their parents, community care providers, critical care teams and clinical staff. Sophia has regular home visits from the community nurses and they input her vital signs in to the platform such as weight and blood pressure etc. These are sent directly to the cardiac team at Alder Hey who will be alerted to anything serious.
Just before Sophia was due her first open heart operation , the cardia team at Alder Hey was alerted to her low oxygen levels and arranged for Sophia to visit her local hospital where she was monitored to see if her vital signs would improve.
Sophia’s condition deteriorated and she had a cardiac arrest and was rushed for emergency surgery at Alder Hey. The surgery was to untwist the valves and connect the veins, pushing the blood and oxygen in the right direction.
Thankfully Sophia made a wonderful recovery and was in hospital for around six days before being discharged.
Mum Jasmine said: “The platform is fantastic. Without it, no doubt we’d be in hospital for much longer. It also makes us feel safer when at home and any worries or queries we can contact the cardiac team really easily and we know they’ll pick up on anything.”
Sophia will need more operations in the future but for now, she is reaching all her milestones, and this bubbly baby loves running, walking and cleaning!