A Glasgow mum-of-one says she wouldn't be alive without the life-saving heart surgery she had when she was a baby after doctors discovered her main arteries were joined and leaking blood into her lungs.
Debbie Kearney was born with holes in her heart, in 1976, but the congenital heart defect wasn't formally diagnosed until she became ill at just six-months-old and was close to having heart failure.
Born on the Isle of Man, she was rushed to a children's hospital in Liverpool where she was transfused with 14 pints of blood and underwent open heart surgery which saved her life.
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The 14-hour long operation - which was uncommon in babies at the time - stopped the blood from leaking to her lungs. She waited until she was seven-years-old before having a 10-hour open heart surgery to fix the holes in her heart.
She moved to Glasgow when she was five-years-old and now lives in Penilee with husband Paul and 14-year-old son Max, and has recovered from the surgeries she had decades ago.
The 46-year-old told Glasgow Live: "When I was a child, it was always kept away about how serious it actually was. Even when I went for my second heart surgery, there wasn’t any talk of how dangerous it could be or how I might not come out.
"With the first one, I had to get 14 pints of blood because I was quite sick by the time I was diagnosed.
"The second surgery took place during Christmas time and I was in over that period and had been looking forward to getting home but unfortunately I developed a cold and they wouldn’t let me out.
"I was going to have heart failure by the time I was diagnosed. The surgery wasn’t really done much on babies and was experimental.
"If they hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have been strong enough to last the next six years to be able to rebuild my strength and get the second heart operation to fix the holes.
"I’m grateful I was able to have that surgery. If I didn’t have that surgery, I wouldn't be here.
“Now I am older and have a child of my own, I know how much my mum must have worried about me, but she never showed it because she didn’t want her worries to affect me.
"My heart condition was no barrier to anything I ever wanted to do or be. After I recovered from my second open heart surgery, my mum told me to get up, grab life and just join in like everyone else. It’s become my motto for life.”
Debbie, who works for a fund management company, is taking part in this Sunday's (April 30) Kiltwalk to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Before the BHF existed, the majority of babies diagnosed with a severe heart defect in the UK did not survive to their first birthday.
Today, thanks to research, more than 8 out of 10 survive to adulthood. BHF research is funded entirely by donations from the public.
With regular check-ups, Debbie leads an active and healthy lifestyle and this weekend, alongside her sister-in-law Debbie McGaffin, will join thousands of fundraisers taking on the 22.7 mile Mighty Stride Kiltwalk from Glasgow Green to Balloch.
She added: “I am absolutely fine now. When I was pregnant with my son I was checking over to make sure that he had no holes in his heart which he didn’t. I was able to have a natural childbirth the same as everybody else.
"Some heart defects like mine are not hereditary and as the doctor told my mum for us, it was just down to ‘sheer bad luck’.
"Therefore, the more knowledge and research that is carried out by charities like the BHF to help prevent, diagnose and treat them, the better. It hopefully means more people like me will go on to live a long and happy life."
David McColgan, Head of BHF Scotland, said: “Debbie’s story demonstrates just how important it is that we continue to fund research to keep families together.
"Our lifesaving science is only made possible thanks to incredible fundraisers like Debbie, and we are so grateful to have such wonderful support.”
Donate to Debbie's Kiltwalk challenge here.
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