Coarctation of Aorta: Henri’s Story

Amy shares her son, Henri’s story:

At our 12 week scan we where told that there was something wrong. This is something we never thought we’d hear at a dating scan. The sonographer had seen fluid on Henri’s heart, neck and chest along with other problems.

At our 20 week scan to see how his heart had developed, we were given the all clear – they where completely happy with him.

Fast forward to when Henri was two weeks old… After bathing him, Henri’s breathing alarmed me. I rang our hospital and they told us to come in to be checked.

They found a slight murmur, which led to Henri having an ECHO. This confirmed that Henri in fact had congenital heart disease (CHD). He was diagnosed with Coarctation of the Aorta and a VSD (hole in the heart). These defects weren’t picked up during my pregnancy or followed up after birth.

On the day of finding out about Henri’s CHD, he really deteriorated and was rushed to the amazing Alder Hey hospital. There he had his life-saving surgery.

Henri was in PICU for over a week then and home after another week.

These little CHD warriors bounce back even stronger!

Since finding out about Henri’s CHD, I’ve made it my task to find out more about it and find support networks. This lead me to Tiny Tickers, a charity with amazing resources on CHD.

Find out more about Coarctation of the Aorta here.