Saturday 20 May 2017

Tiny Tickers feature on BBC Lifeline this Sunday.

I have blogged about Tiny Tickers in the past most recently when it was Heart week.....


Tiny Tickers is the only national charity with a focus on improving the early detection, diagnosis and care of babies with heart conditions. Congenital Heart Defects (CHDs) are the most common type of birth defect; it is our ambition that no baby should ever die with an undetected heart defect.

Tiny Tickers have been given an incredible opportunity to feature in a BBC Lifeline appeal which will be shown on Sunday 21st May at 4pm on BBC1 and repeated again on BBC 2, Wednesday 24th at 1pm. It will then be available on the BBC website for one month. 

They will be sharing very different stories of two babies born with heart conditions. Tommy and Rocco. The appeal demonstrates how our specialist sonographer training can save lives.

First, Tommy's mum Natasha will tell her story. 


Tommy had a Congenital Heart Defect called Transposition of the Great Arteries, which sadly was not detected before his birth. When he was born, he displayed all the signs of heart failure, which Natasha now knows about – his skin was a blue colour, he didn't want to feed, he was always asleep and cold to touch. Natasha knew something was wrong and voiced her concerns to numerous medical professionals but it was too late. Tragically, at 11 days old, Tommy passed away.

The second story has a far happier ending, but Rocco's mum says he owes his life to the sonographer who spotted his poorly heart. 


Like Tommy, Rocco also has Transposition of the Great Arteries. But unlike Tommy, his heart defect was detected at his 20 week scan. This enabled him to receive life-saving treatment as soon as he was born. At six days old he had open heart surgery. Today, Rocco is a happy, healthy three year old. He is also a huge Chelsea fan!

Both of my girls were discharged from hospital when they were babies with heart problems....No one knew, including me. It was only down to a freak accident of Ellie jamming her fingers in a door that their conditions were found.....In 2009 both of my girls had open heart, life saving surgery. Without the surgery they would have died in their teenage years.....The teenage years seemed a long way away then but Becky is 14 now. Without the freak accident and the surgery she may have been dead by now....

You can read our story....Part one and Part two....

My girls the day they came out of hospital after heart surgery. I have covered Becky up as she asked me to.

Once the initial appeal has aired Tiny Ticker's need as many people as possible to watch it and donate. Your help could make a huge difference to babies born with heart conditions....

£5 could pay for two ‘early diagnosis packs’ to be sent to expectant parents who have just been told the devastating news that their baby has a heart defect. This pack will help them understand more about their baby's condition, and what to expect during the rest of pregnancy and after birth.

£10 could pay for 1000 heart cards to be produced. These cards alert parents to the signs and symptoms of heart problems.

£25 could provide 40 doctors surgeries with life-saving information on spotting the signs and symptoms of heart problems in a baby, information they can also share with their patients.

£75 could pay for one sonographer to receive specialist training. He or she could identify a heart condition in a baby and save its life.

2 comments :

  1. This is such a good cause, and literally close to your family's heart. Well done on raising awareness x

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