Youngest heart operation patient meets surgeon

A child who is believed to be the youngest to have open-heart surgery has been reunited with the surgeon who treated her. Fleur, from Nottinghamshire, was delivered six weeks early with her twin sister, Ottilie, and was discovered to have a rare congenital defect. At just 28 days old - and weighing less than 4lb (1.8kg) - Fleur was taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI), where her family was told she only had a 20% chance of survival. She underwent a nine‑hour operation and eventually recovered. Nearly three years on, she reunited with heart surgeon Ikenna Omeje, who described her as "certainly special". Fleur and Ottilie were born at Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham and spent several weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit before they could go home. But Fleur started to struggle with her feeding and breathing, and was taken back to the QMC, where she spent five days in paediatric intensive care. A CT scan confirmed she had Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage (TAPVD) – a heart condition where all four pulmonary veins drain into the right atrium instead of the left, forcing blood to recirculate to the lungs. Initially, Fleur's family were told she was too young f

Apr 9, 2026 → Apr 9, 2026