Parents of Ted Parks join Children's Heart Unit fight

Jul 17 2011 by Sara Nichol, Sunday Sun

MINISTERS were last night warned to keep their hands off a top North hospital unit - by Super Ted!

The parents of miracle baby Ted Parks have joined the fight to save the centre that kept their precious boy alive.

More than a year on from his life-saving rescue and heart transplant, the toddler has come on leaps-and-bounds to celebrate his second birthday.

But his parents Kay Husband and Stephen Parks know it’s a day they would never have seen had it not been for the experts at the Childrens’ Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

Doctors believe Ted was struck by a heart condition so rare he was the only sufferer in the world.

Three times, Kay and Stephen felt the fear of witnessing their baby’s heart stopping but on all occasions Ted - nicknamed Super Ted - found the strength to fight back.

He was given a life-saving heart transplant in 2010 and has gone from strength-to-srength ever since.

Now his parents have backed the campaign to save the heart unit that saved his after the Government launched a consultation to reduce the number of specialist heart units from 11 to six or seven.

Kay, 36, of Normanby, Middlesbrough, said: “Without everyone at the Freeman Ted would not be here today - they really did perform a miracle.

“At the beginning the Freeman was obviously a lifeline for Ted but it will continue to be a massive part of our lives.

“I stay sane knowing the Freeman is just up the road. I think I’d be the one needing a transplant if they told us we would have to move his treatment to Leeds!