The mother cried most of the pregnancy after the doctor’s warning about the unborn child

A mother “spent most of her pregnancy crying” after being told her baby would be born with a host of life-threatening heart conditions.

Laura Davis, 35, was warned her baby would not survive past her fifth birthday without treatment after a 20-week scan revealed the unborn baby suffered from an unusual condition called tetralogy of Fallot – a combination of four different heart defects, including a hole in the heart, a pulmonary valve that is too narrow, a displaced aorta, and an abnormal enlargement of the right ventricular muscle.

She was plagued with worry throughout her pregnancy as doctors had no idea how serious the condition would be until after the baby was born. Shaunie Browne was born on May 9, 2022 against all odds.

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Laura, from Bootle, said: “I probably cried most of the pregnancy. I just didn’t know. He could be born blue and should go straight to Alder Hey. Luckily he wasn’t case. He was pink, healthy, he had to go to the neo-natal unit to be checked and allowed to go home by an Alder Hey doctor. But it was a scary time.

Shaunie thrived for a year before her heart condition and poor circulation turned her skin blue. Doctors at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital then decided it was time to carry out the seven-hour open-heart surgery needed to save his life.

Laura said: “They say without help, babies with tetralogy of Fallot will not survive past the age of five. It is a life-saving surgery. They had to close the hole. They also repaired the valves, but one defect, the pulmonary valve. , they could not save.

“It was the worst day of our lives. I still get emotional thinking about it. It was the waiting. I went down at 10 and didn’t see him until 6.30 at night in intensive care. It was a long day. waiting around the hospital waiting for news.

“It was hard to see him after that. He looked really bad with all his tubes. All we did was cry. We couldn’t stay with him in intensive care, so it was hard to go home and not be he there.”

Shaunie spent two days in intensive care before being moved to a ward and stayed in hospital for just seven days before being allowed to go home with Shaun’s mum, dad and 11-year-old sister Lola . The two-year-old will need further surgery to repair his pulmonary valve in the future, which Laura believes will come sooner rather than later.

To thank surgeons at Alder Hey, the mum-of-two organized a charity skydive to mark the one-year anniversary of Shaunie’s successful heart operation – and has already doubled her initial £1,000 target.

She said: “Shaunie is at nursery two days a week. He is doing very well. He’s a little behind on a lot of things like speaking, but after what he’s been through, that might be all that’s coming. But he is a happy child.

“I just wanted to give something back to the amazing hospital. Everything from the care they gave me, the nurses who came to our house, even just tassels and cups of coffee, nothing was too much trouble for them. I can’t wait to parachute and give something back.”

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