PARENTS Sophie and Matt Roberts have given their heartfelt thanks to medics who saved the life of their beloved daughter Amalie.

The Chippenham couple were only allowed to hold Amalie briefly after her birth, before she was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit in Bristol Children’s Hospital for life-saving heart surgery.

The couple’s nightmare started when after her 20-week scan with her third baby, Sophie, 38, was given the shocking news that something was wrong.

Husband Matt said “There was a brief but agonising wait. We were then told our baby had a condition called transposition of the great arteries, which means the two main blood vessels leaving the heart, the pulmonary artery and the aorta, are the wrong way around.”

Sophie said: “Getting the diagnosis was a shock, however we had time to do lots of research before our baby was due. We were told that she would need open heart surgery to carry out ‘the switch’ and that this would be done in Bristol.”

Amalie was born on November 8 last year by caesarean section, a week early. After the operation she spent seven days in paediatric intensive care.

Massimo Caputo, a professor of congenital heart surgery, performed ‘the switch’ operation and patched a hole in Amalie’s heart.

“He has been fantastic, I just wanted to hug him. Amazingly she was home within 11 days,” said Matt.

“We have been so scared through all of this and with the Coronvirus scare. We are very much aware of Amalie’s vulnerability, both as a four-month-old old baby and with her condition. She is recovering really well but we are not out of the woods yet by any means.

“She had to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours recently and to our relief it showed no abnormalities. We both feel it’s really important to talk about what’s happening as it helps us and hopefully others in a similar position. On one of the forums we are on, we’ve had comments from people in their 50s offering us reassurance, as they have been through the same procedure years ago."

Amalie has her next appointment for tests in April, which will determine what happens next in her treatment. For now she is enjoying life her siblings Thomas, four, and Felicity, three.”

Matt and Sophie wanted to do something to support the British Heart Foundation, which has helped them and funded research at the Bristol hospital where Amalie was treated. Matt is running the Marathon Des Sables across the Sahara Desert and the London Marathon in April.

“We’re both so grateful for the donations and messages of support and encouragement.”

Sophie is holding a nearly-new sale on March 21 between 10am-3pm at the Springfield Campus in Corsham.