Little Isabelle Marsh has finally done a roly-poly. But before hurling herself across the room and doing a roll, she plays a drum solo, beats up a pink stuffed rabbit and pulls off her father's socks. Isabelle has come a long way since her birth, 21 months ago, when doctors told her parents that she had a condition that was 'incompatible with life'.
Isabelle was born with TGA - transposition of the great arteries. The two arteries in her heart were the wrong way around and her blood was starved of oxygen. She underwent open-heart surgery when she was only 10 days old.
'It's just such a shock,' says her father, Jon Marsh. 'You think you're going to have a perfectly normal baby and the doctor tells you it has a serious condition. When this happened I had no idea about children's heart disorders. That's why the people at the Children's Heart Foundation are so good. It really helps to talk to people who have been through a similar experience.'
The Children's Heart Foundation is one of 12 chosen beneficiaries of this year's Operation Santa Claus appeal.
It needs help to buy equipment as well as presents to give to children at their hospital Christmas party.
Based in the Grantham Hospital, the foundation was established in 1994 by a group of parents with children suffering from congenital heart conditions, and pays for treatment and special equipment. 'Our mandate is to promote better understanding,' says Duncan Pescod, the foundation's chairman, whose son, Adam, was born with the same condition as Isabelle.
'Nobody expects a child to have a heart condition. That's perceived as an adult problem, so we need to educate people about this.'
