Transposition of the Great Arteries: Evie’s Story

Evie’s heart condition, Transposition of the Great Arteries, was spotted when she was 12 hours old. Here, mum Emma shares her story:

My eldest Evie was born with a heart defect. We didn’t find out until she was around 12 hours old. She went blue and was rushed off to the neonatal unit.

Evie was transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital the same day. There, she had a balloon septostomy to keep her alive while she waited for her corrective surgery.

At two weeks old, Evie had open heart surgery and was in theatre for five hours.

The name of her defect is TGA (Transposition of the Great Arteries). This was corrected through surgery and so far she has had no complications, although she does live with a heart murmur.

Evie has scaring down her chest and loves to hear the story about her poorly heart.

I always stress the importance of testing every newborn baby for heart defects!

Thank you again for using Evie’s story, keep up the good work, you are all doing amazingly!

Find out more about Transposition of the Great Arteries here.