New heart saves toddler so he can meet his baby brother

As brave toddler Laurie Johnson gives newborn Kit a cuddle, his parents know it is nothing short of a miracle. Laurie is only alive to meet his baby brother thanks to the lifesaving gift of a new heart. As he battled for life, waiting for one to be donated, doctors warned his parents finding it would be as rare as "hen's teeth".

He was one of the youngest babies ever to be kept alive on a Berlin Heart machine while waiting for a transplant donor to be found. But against all the odds he received his lifesaving gift - and was able to meet Kit, who was born in June. His relieved mother, Holly, 33, said: "We never truly thought it was going to happen. We were terrified for him but we knew it was his only chance of survival.

"To find him a new heart when he was so small was an absolute miracle. And now to watch him with his baby brother is wonderful. He adores him." Laurie was born healthy in the autumn of 2022 but by the time he was eight days old he was struggling to feed. Holly and husband Tom, 38, who are both GPs in South Devon, took him to the A&E department at Torbay Hospital. There he collapsed in the waiting room and doctors had to resuscitate him.

He was transferred to Bristol Children's Hospital, where tests showed he was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy - which causes the heart to become enlarged - and was in heart failure. Holly said: "The doctors managed to stabilise him but he was so poorly he was put on a ventilator and his organs were shutting down.

"We didn't know if he was going to survive. It was such a shock - he was only nine days old and he'd been perfectly fine when he was born." Laurie's condition improved and he was put on medication but a month later he collapsed again with end-stage heart failure. Doctors told the devastated couple his only chance of survival was a heart transplant - but because he was so tiny, they didn't know if a heart could be found.

They put him on a Berlin Heart, a mechanical ventricular assist device designed to provide temporary circulatory support for children, at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital to keep him alive - but doing so comes with risks such as major strokes. Tom said: "We knew it was a big risk to him and every day we were living in fear.

"But there was no option. He had a possible clot in the left side of his heart for a month and if that had broken away it would have caused instant death. So it was very touch and go for him." Laurie remained on the machine for six months and then finally, just after his first birthday, doctors had some amazing news - a replacement heart had been found.

The intricate transplant took nine hours and, happily, his new donor heart started working immediately. Laurie came on in leaps and bounds, and in June along with older brother Osian, four, he was able to meet Kit. Holly said: "The boys are amazing with Kit, and Laurie loves being a big brother. He's always giving Kit a cuddle."