Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury baby James battles back to health after heart op

He was at death's door at just a few days old – but thanks to the skill of surgeons, little James Nettleton can look forward to a bright future.

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James had major open heart surgery just a few days after his birth. After being admitted to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, it was discovered he had two holes in his heart, an abnormal valve and transposition of the great arteries - where the two main arteries leave the heart were the wrong way around.

Verity Nettleton and baby James – the picture of health after major surgery when he was just days old

His life was saved by specialists at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

And today, at seven months old, he is doing well and is the apple in the eye of his mother Verity and his father Mike. The couple said they will for ever be grateful to the surgeons who saved their son's life.

James was just three days old when he was rushed to hospital with a virus – and was diagnosed with a serious heart condition.

He was taken into intensive care at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, where his parents' world was turned upside down as doctors discovered he had a life-threatening congenital heart defect that needed urgent surgery.

Just 36 hours later, he had been transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital, where he underwent life-saving open heart surgery.

The four-hour operation ended up taking nine hours and his parents Mike, 34, and Verity, 27, said they were at their "wits' end" until they were finally told it had been a success.

Seeing their barely week-old child with tubes coming out of his tiny body and his chest cavity open for the first 24 hours was traumatic, but James amazed both his parents and doctors with his strength, recovering so quickly that he was discharged just one week later.

"When a situation like this arises, all the other things become trivial as the focus on the welfare of your child is the only thing that counts," said Mr Nettleton.

The family , from the Kenley area of Shrewsbury, spent time in the Ronald McDonald House, a charity-run accommodation block next to the hospital where families can stay free of charge.

"To have a facility like Ronald McDonald House was another minor miracle as the prospect of my wife's health was of serious concern, given that the postnatal period should be one of rest, not what we were experiencing. Words can't really do justice to what we have been through, nor can they really do justice to the quality of the care we have received.

"Birmingham Children's Hospital is simply one of the most amazing places I have been and I will be forever grateful to all of those involved for what they have done for our family," added Mr Nettleton. He said his son, while likely to need monitoring by doctors as he grows up, was now seven months old and was healthy and thriving.

And he thanked a Shropshire firm which raised £2,100 after they heard the story of James.

Oyster Communications, based in Broseley, held a fundraising event at the Telford Golf and Spa Hotel. The money will be divided between the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House.

Mr Nettleton is a director at Nock Deighton estate agents, which has made a long-term pledge to raise money for the hospital and Ronald McDonald House. Geraldine Taylor, director of Oyster Communications, is the wife of fellow Nock Deighton director Graham Taylor and was also keen to help. She said: "We were devastated for Mike and Verity when we found out little James was so poorly and are over the moon that he came through everything and is recovering well."

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