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Record-breaking heart op baby back in hospital

Dec 11 2011 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

Toby Dring with mum Sophie

A DEVOTED mum faces an anxious wait as medics prepare to carry out a second life-saving operation on her baby – weeks after he made history as one of the youngest to ever undergo open heart surgery.

Toby Dring was just 22 hours old when surgeons at the Freeman Hospital performed their medical magic on the tot, carrying out the first of several procedures he’ll need to correct a complex heart condition.

That made him the youngest baby in Britain – and one of the youngest in the world – to have such an operation.

Now 13 weeks old, baby Toby has been admitted back to the Children’s Heart Unit at the Newcastle hospital, where he’ll have a second vital operation tomorrow.

“I knew it was coming up but it was still quite a shock to be told it’s happening now,” said Sophie, of Whitby, North Yorkshire.

“This means we’ll definitely be here over Christmas but he’s in good hands.”

The Sunday Sun told two weeks ago how it was a 20-week scan at a local hospital that first showed something was wrong with her baby’s heart, but as nurses there had never seen such a condition Sophie had to wait another week to find out his diagnosis at Leeds Infirmary.

There, a specialist revealed her unborn baby boy had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which means the left side of his heart failed to form properly.

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