Mum of young boy who had open heart surgery opens up

A mother whose son had open heart surgery aged nine has said the ordeal was 'horrendous.'

Blake McCaughey has suffered from serious health issues since birth, with a history of chest infections, pneumonia and problems with his development.

The 10-year-old now has to be tube fed for 16 hours a day and spends most of his time in a wheelchair.

In May 2017, his family were told he would have to undergo a major operation.

His mother Christine said it was something no family should have to face.

She was speaking during launch day for Cash for Kids which has been helping Blake.

"We had to hand him over and we had to know they were stopping his heart for two hours.

"They were putting him on a machine, they told us before we went down 'if we don't get him onto the ventilator quick enough, he'll be brain damaged.'

"We're giving you our son who, in our world is perfect but you might not be giving us back Blake," she said.

The family had to give their permission for the operation to go ahead, Christine said it was one of the hardest decisions she has ever had to make:

"Blake's heart was getting worse and walking into that theatre that morning, I couldn't even sign the paper, I had to get Andrew to do it.

"I was like I can't, I can't sign to say it's OK to break his rib cage, to then stop his heart for over two hours to perform this procedure.

"We walked into the room that day and Blake just looked up at me and went 'not for me mummy,' and I was like 'it is for you Blake,' she said.

She added: "It was horrendous handing him over to know that you may not get him back.

"You could hope and pray that he would come back but you don't know and it's like everything with every child, you just never want to have to think that you're not getting your baby back.

"But thankfully he did, his heart was restarted."

After such a major operation, Blake faced a long road to recovery but for Christine, just seeing him again was enough to know he would be OK.

"He was in intensive care, he was still on a ventilator, we seen Blake and it was like the biggest relief in the world to hold his hand again and just to know that we had more time with him."

And the family thanked the family who donated their child's heart so Blake could live a fuller life:

"His whole life has been surgery and more surgery and challenge after challenge.

"Another family lost their child unfortunately but they donated an organ for Blake, that part of his heart then, can function normally," she said.

The Belfast Giants super-fan is normally wheelchair bound and his physiotherapist says play is an important part of his treatment as it helps build his muscles.

Recently, the donation of a climbing frame so Blake can play in his own garden has changed the family's lives.

Christine said: "Blake's muscles are very weak but they are getting stronger thankfully but they'll only get stronger through using them."

She added: "So we do have to encourage him but with a play frame, you don't have to encourage a child to play, they do it naturally."

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