Auction to thank kids' heart charity

A Hucknall mum is holding an auction of tropical fish to say thankyou to the hospital charity that saved her son's life after he was born with a rare heart condition.
Cheryl Hibberd is raising money for the hospital charity Heart Link which supported her when her son Benjamin was critically ill.Cheryl Hibberd is raising money for the hospital charity Heart Link which supported her when her son Benjamin was critically ill.
Cheryl Hibberd is raising money for the hospital charity Heart Link which supported her when her son Benjamin was critically ill.

Cheryl Hibbard feared her son Benjamin would not survive when doctors at King’s Mill Hospital discovered he was born with two of the main arteries in his heart the wrong way around, three hours after his birth in October 2012.

Cheryl said: “He was very poorly when he was born. The condition made him go almost navy blue because he was getting no oxygen into the blood.”

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Benjamin was emergency transferred to Glenfield hospital in Leicester where surgeons performed a balloon septostomy which involves making a hole in the heart to let oxygen in.

“If he had not gone to Glenfield that day he would not be here today,” said Cheryl. “It was touch and go for 48 hours.”

Born with the congenital heart defect TGA - transposition of the greater arteries - Benjamin was due to have the switch operation straight away, but a chest infection delayed this for three weeks.

The operation was a success and Benjamin is now nearly four, but sadly he had a seizure when he was six days old which caused autism and a sensory processing disorder that affects how he smells and feels textures. He cannot speak and sometimes struggles with strangers.

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Cheryl, 39, lives on Walkmill Drive with Benjamin, his brother Samuel, 11, and partner Joe Wain.

The Heart Link children’s charity not only helps provide vital life saving equipment, but also support for the families. This is Cheryl’s second bid to help having raised £150 with a family Easter party at the John Godber Centre in April.