Youngest heart operation patient meets surgeon

A child who is believed to be the youngest to have open-heart surgery has been reunited with the surgeon who treated her.

Fleur, from Nottinghamshire, was delivered six weeks early with her twin sister, Ottilie, and was discovered to have a rare congenital defect.

At just 28 days old - and weighing less than 4lb (1.8kg) - Fleur was taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI), where her family was told she only had a 20% chance of survival.

She underwent a nine‑hour operation and eventually recovered. Nearly three years on, she reunited with heart surgeon Ikenna Omeje, who described her as "certainly special".

Fleur and Ottilie were born at Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham and spent several weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit before they could go home.

But Fleur started to struggle with her feeding and breathing, and was taken back to the QMC, where she spent five days in paediatric intensive care.

A CT scan confirmed she had Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage (TAPVD) – a heart condition where all four pulmonary veins drain into the right atrium instead of the left, forcing blood to recirculate to the lungs.

Initially, Fleur's family were told she was too young for surgery - news they said sent "our world crashing down".

But a specialist team at LRI, led by Omeje, said they would operate, while still only giving Fleur a 20% chance of survival.

Her surgery required Fleur to be placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine – a temporary life support which pumps blood out of the body, reoxygenates it and returns it.

Her chest was closed after a week, and six weeks later the family of four could return home.

Omeje said: "I see hundreds of patients, but you really remember the special ones - and Fleur was certainly special.

"She made history in Leicester as the smallest child to have open-heart surgery at 1.8kg, but I believe she's also the youngest in the UK because she was premature.

"I remember we had to adapt the oxygenator because of her size.

"We knew Fleur's surgery was risky, but we believe in pushing the boundaries, and I believed we had the ability to do it.

"The trust shown in us by her parents gives us motivation to do our utmost, and it is amazing and an honour to see her again. It has made my day."

Both girls later faced further breathing problems and, by their first Christmas, Fleur had spent 50 days in hospital - but the twins have since made a full recovery.

Mum Finley told Omeje when they met on 31 March: "You gave Fleur a life, and Ottilie has a sister because of you. We can never thank you enough.

"The dedication of the teams who cared for the twins, and Heart Link charity, which provided support for us while Fleur was in hospital, including a place to stay, were brilliant."

On meeting her again, Omeje said: "It was amazing, the moment I saw her, I picked her up and it felt really, really satisfying.

"It was also emotional. I'm not usually the emotional type... but there it almost drew me to tears. It was really lovely to see her - and also her little sister - and it just shows the effort we all put in here is not in vain. "

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