A baby boy was only 3 days old when he had his first major operation to have his heart fixed.
Cole Jewson, who was born with half a heart, already underwent four major surgeries. His mother, 24-year-old Lauren Bell, said it is a miracle Cole has made it to Christmas.
When Lauren and her partner, Rich, went for her 20-week scan, they were informed that there was a problem with the baby’s heart.
“I feared the worst. They were talking among themselves for a while before she told me there was something wrong with his heart. The left side looked smaller than the right,” Lauren said.
“They said we’d be referred to a specialist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. I went home and started Googling things and hypoplastic left heart syndrome came up. I’d never heard of the condition.
“It sounds silly but I wasn’t too worried, I just thought it would right itself before he was born. But within an hour of getting home, I had a call from the Newcastle hospital asking me to go for an appointment that day.”
Lauren continued: “The consultant said he was very sorry but Cole’s heart hadn’t formed properly. He showed me pictures of how a normal heart works and what was wrong with Cole’s.
“I just burst into tears, I felt numb. I remember them saying it was life-threatening and that Cole would need surgical intervention or he’d die. They said some parents choose to terminate. I knew straight away I couldn’t do that. I wanted to give my baby a chance.”
The parents were told about their options: continuing without surgery, to have surgery after the baby was born, or termination.
“There were no guarantees they’d be able to save him but I made up my mind there and then that we’d go for the early surgery. Richard was at home and I texted him to say there was a problem with the baby. He was in tears when I got back.”
As Lauren’s pregnancy continued, she was monitored closely. “t was a hard time as we were preparing for the unknown. I was pregnant, but we had no idea if our little boy was going to survive,” she expressed.
Cole was born weighing 7lbs 7oz. “Cole came out crying and they put him on my chest as soon as he was born.
“We were warned he might look blue and weak, but he didn’t. He looked well. You would never have known anything was wrong with him. I held him for five minutes but then his sats started to drop and they took him away. They put on an oxygen mask to help him breathe.”
Cole had his first surgery when he was only 3 days old. “He was in theatre for eight hours and initially we thought he was OK.
“But then his heart started beating incredibly fast and the doctors knew something was up. His surgeon stayed with him until the early hours and eventually said they had to put Cole on life support. That was very scary, we were told to prepare for the worst.”
The next day, surgeons took the baby back to the theatre after a CT scan. However, the procedure was not completely successful again.
Surgeons tried for the third time before Cole was 5 days old.
“I felt confident but again, they came out and said they couldn’t do it. We were devastated, we just couldn’t see there being a happy ending.”
Doctors then agreed to try one last time and that’s when they managed to fit a stent in Cole’s aorta.
“He was not out of the woods but for the first time things had gone well. We went to see Cole and he looked so tiny and peaceful. Over the next few days he got stronger and stronger and when he was 14 days old, doctors attempted to wean him off life support.
“We were told that once he was off, he couldn’t go back on so we prayed that he’d cope. They gradually weaned him off the machine until he was breathing by himself.”
Cole’s health started to improve but he remained in the intensive care for three more months.
“There have a been so many times when I thought Cole wouldn’t make it until Christmas so the fact he’s alive to celebrate with us is a miracle. He really is the best present we could have hoped for,” Lauren said.
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