A baby boy born with two life-threatening holes in his heart has just celebrated his first birthday – thanks to a cow heart.
Ruben Weber-Jackson, from Beverley, Yorkshire, was suffering from restricted breathing because of the holes.
Now, during two major operations, they have been repaired – using tissue from a cow’s heart – and he can breathe normally.
When Ruben was born last year, his parents thought he was a happy and healthy baby.
His mother Petra, 29, said: ‘He was pink and everything seemed perfect, really. But in hindsight, there were probably a few little signs, but nothing significant that made us think there was a real problem.
‘I remember saying he was such an easy baby who sleeps a lot and was very calm. He also had swollen eyes and there is one photo we took where his lips looked slightly purple.’
But when he was two weeks and two days old, she noticed his breathing was unusual.
She said: ‘I just had a niggling feeling something wasn’t right. He was breathing funny but I thought I was just being a paranoid parent. But it got worse and I took him to the GP, who sent us to Hull Royal Infirmary.’
Hospital scans showed Ruben had two holes in his heart and a narrowing of the aorta.
It meant his circulation was severely compromised – which explained his unusual breathing and purple lips – and he was rushed in for dangerous open-heart surgery.
It was during the second operation where the doctors used tissue from a cow’s heart, which has saved his life.
The procedure, known as a bovine pericardial patch, has saved Ruben’s life and allowed him to live to see his first birthday.
His mother said: ‘There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about how different our lives could be now -how very close we came to losing him.
‘In some ways, I think he subconsciously knows – he is such a happy baby and he seems to want to make the most out of life.’
‘Throughout everything, people kept saying to me “I couldn’t be as strong as you are”. But the truth is, you don’t know how strong you can be until you’ve not got a choice.’