LITTLE fighter Rory Bartram will celebrate his first birthday next week – a day his family feared they would never see.

Rory was born with a heart defect that required open heart surgery when he was just nine days old.

Now, to show their thanks to the dozens of hospital staff who helped save their son’s life, parents Allyson and Tom have arranged a charity Easter fair on March 31 to raise money for Wessex Heartbeat and the British Heart Foundation.

Allyson, of Normandy Road in Wroughton, said: “We really appreciate how lucky we have been.

“Some of the other families we met have children who will face lifelong heart complications and further surgery.

“Rory will require annual check-ups, but otherwise his defect has been repaired.”

Rory’s heart condition was detected during pregnancy at the 20 week scan.

Thanks to the expertise of a sonographer at the Great Western Hospital, a commonly undiagnosed condition called transposition of the great arteries was detected.

This meant that the main arteries leading to and from Rory’s heart were connected the wrong way round so that unoxygenated blood would be circulated around his body.

During pregnancy this caused him no risk as his blood was oxygenated by his mum. Throughout the remainder of the pregnancy, Rory’s development was closely monitored and plans were made to have him delivered at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital where a team of cardiologists were on standby.

Shortly after Rory was born by caesarean section on March 29, cardiologists conducted a balloon septostomy which ensured the hole between the two chambers of his heart did not close.

This hole would allow the blood between the two chambers to mix freely and allow oxygenated blood from the lungs to be circulated around his body.

He spent a few days in intensive care before being moved to the children’s ward when his condition was stabilised. At eight days old, Rory was transferred to Southampton General Hospital to its specialist children’s cardiac unit where the surgical team conducted open heart surgery to correct the ‘plumbing’ to Rory’s heart. He spent a further five days in intensive care before eventually being transferred back to GWH.

Allyson said: “Rory left hospital having lost a great deal of his birth weight.

“He had an angry looking scar down his chest. Now, almost one year later, and thanks to all the superb work of these three hospitals, he has grown into a robust and healthy little boy who you would never imagine had such a rocky start to life.”

“Whilst in Southampton, we received free accommodation in a house provided by the charity Wessex Heartbeat and we want to raise money to ensure it can continue to provide support.

“We also want to raise money to support the fabulous work of the British Heart Foundation.”

The Easter fair is at Chiseldon Village Hall on March 31 from 10am to noon. There will be trade stalls, a raffle and tombola, cakes and fudge plus the Easter Bunny.