Baby survives after being born with half a heart

Scarlett Crowther is now a bright and beaming baby girl — after surviving a rare condition that caused her to be born with half a heart.

The baby was given a 50 percent chance of surviving the defect — but battled through two lengthy heart operations, including one at just 5 days old.

Scarlett is now a healthy 9-month-old baby. Her mother, Rebecca Turner, 20, said yesterday: “She’s a little fighter.

“When I hold her now I just can’t believe how healthy and happy she is. She’s my miracle baby.”

Turner found out Scarlett had the defect, called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, at her 20-week scan. It meant the left side of Scarlett’s heart did not develop in the womb.

Turner, a full-time mother, was given the option to terminate the pregnancy, but she chose to carry on.

Days after Scarlett was born in June of 2012, she had a seven-and-a-half hour operation at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Merseyside, England.

Surgeons put an artificial tube inside her to help the blood flow to her heart.

Scarlett had more major surgery at 8 months when doctors attached a vein from her neck to her heart in an eight-and-a-half hour operation.

Scarlett has to have another operation between the ages of 4 and 8 to make sure the vein stays attached.

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