Updated

A 3-year-old whose blood flowed in reverse has undergone surgery to stop his heart from pumping blood the wrong way, it is reported by the Daily Mail.

Alec Hutchinson was born with a rare condition called congenitally corrected transposition, which meant the blood vessels in his heart go from back to front, according to the report.

In people with the condition, the body's major artery, the aorta, is connected to the smaller pumping chamber of the heart, the right ventricle.

As a result of this, Alec had low oxygen levels in his blood and was often breathless and blue, the Daily Mail reported.

The condition was corrected by an operation at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, England, four weeks ago in which doctors made a "double switch" and turned his heart vessels around.

There was a one in five chance that Alec would not survive the operation, but Alec is doing well according to his parents.

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