Every day, excited seven-year-old Leah Barclay checks the calendar and counts how many sleeps until her next visit to her happy place, Rachel House.And every day her parents and her two big sisters have with their “little ray of sunshine,” who was born with only half a heart, is a blessing.
When mum Nicola became pregnant with Leah, she and husband Simon were overjoyed.They already had two daughters, Mia and Sasha, but had longed for a third child and, after five years of trying, were thrilled to be expecting again.
At her 20-week scan, however, Nicola was given the devastating news that something was thought to be wrong with her baby’s heart.Looking up at the ultrasound screen, Nicola sensed that something wasn’t right. “Having had the girls, I knew what a normal heart should look like – and this didn’t look right at all,” said Nicola, of Aberdeen.“It was a strange shape and didn’t seem to have any chambers.
The consultant I spoke to said he suspected it could be a hole in the heart, but he wanted to send me to Glasgow ‘s Queen Elizabeth Hospital to make sure.
Read more on dailyrecord.co.uk