Jake was born with a rare, undiagnosed form of Arrhythmia, a rare, undiagnosed form of Cardiomyopathy and a very large hole in his heart. It was discovered literally as we were leaving hospital to take him home the day he was born. In the space of an hour he went from his car seat to Special Baby care. The following day he was transferred to Alder Hey, where we pretty much spent Jakeās first year.
When various attempts to regulate his heart failed, Jake was transferred by helicopter to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London for a second opinion. By this time Jakeās heart was so poorly he also underwent a heart transplant assessment. It was then decided that his best chance was to have a bespoke Biventricular Pacemaker fitted in an attempt to resynchronise his heart. The surgery itself went well but there were complications and Jake arrested for a second time. The ICU team worked very quickly and managed to save Jake. An emergency heart scan revealed that Jake urgently needed to have the hole in his heart closed. We were warned that he may not survive the operation, but we knew he certainly wouldnāt survive not having it.