Girl, 12, born with only one lung and half a working heart has life saved

22 February 2024 , 19:21

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Millie and dad Graeme

Surgeons have saved the life of a girl born with only one lung and half a working heart.

Millie Healey, 12, had one of the most complex procedures ever performed. It involved linking veins directly to her working lung, leaving the single heart ventricle to circulate blood.

Mum Kerry said of the London op: “It was a miracle. When Millie went in she was too weak to walk to the end of the bed. When she came out she’d walked all the way from the hospital on the South Bank and over Westminster Bridge to Big Ben.”

Millie’s rare combination of defects led to three open-heart ops before she was one. But last year her condition began to worsen again. Complex surgery known as a Fontan procedure, which essentially reroutes the blood, was the only way to save her apart from a simultaneous heart and lung transplant.

Millie in gardens at St Thomas

To decide if it was even possible, the team at the Evelina London Children’s Hos­­pital created models of Millie’s heart using a 3D printer. The eventual operation took six hours, twice as long as usual, but the results were remarkable. Now Millie is able to enjoy walks in the park and being back in the classroom after having much of her recent education in hospital.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Speaking from home in Gloucester one year on from the op, mum Kerry said: “Millie is so full of life and energy. She can go to school full-time and leave home without oxygen, which she hadn’t been able to do for four years.”

Millie at eight weeks old at Birmingham Childrens Hospital (Adam Fradgley / Exposure Photogr)

Relieved dad Graeme added: “The news that Millie would need the operation was viewed with mixed emotions, given the risks attached. But the whole team at Evelina were absolutely fan­­tastic throughout.

“They kept us updated at every step with some honest, and sometimes difficult, conversations and decisions. There is no amount of gratitude simple words can convey.”

Millie’s rare combination of defects led to three open-heart ops before she was one (Adam Fradgley / Exposure Photography)

Aaron Bell, consultant paediatric cardiologist and head of service at Evelina, said: “This procedure was highly technical and rare. Even more so for Millie with her serious condition and her particular vein arrangement.

Without the surgery the only other option for her would have been a double heart and lungs transplant simultaneously. One year on and we’re thrilled to see what a great recovery she has made.”

Martin Bagot