Jenna Parrish has more reason than most to be looking forward to an all-the-trimmings Christmas with her family this year.
Last year, December 25 went by in a blur of worry after her 16-month-old son Caleb was rushed into surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital – where he had been waiting for a heart transplant.
The family had to grab their Christmas dinner at the ward canteen in between anxiously pacing the hospital corridors waiting for news.
Jenna, 35, and her partner Jamie, 33, who also have son Toby, four, together had been determined to make the day as normal as possible until Caleb developed an infection and needed emergency surgery to repair the mechanical heart that was keeping him alive.
Days later – on New Year’s Eve – the family were told that a donor had been found, and Caleb was again rushed away for the lifesaving eight-hour operation.
Cradling Caleb, now two, by their Christmas tree at their home in Brecon, South Wales, Jenna says that this year, Christmas Day will be the most special one ever for the family.
She says: “We’re all looking forward to being together as a family with Caleb at home. I haven’t bought many presents, though. We’ve realised the important things in life aren’t the material things.”
After his birth in August 2020, a check-up showed Caleb had a heart murmur.
An echo scan then discovered three holes in his heart, which doctors said would heal naturally. But nine weeks later, little Caleb stopped breathing at home, and went into cardiac arrest just as paramedics arrived.
Jenna, who also has daughters Alesha, 13, and Natasha, 17, remembers: “In the hospital the doctors told me he might not make it. It was horrific. As I waited for news I was planning his funeral in my head.”
Caleb was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease which makes it harder for the heart to pump blood.
He was then sent to Bristol Heart Institute, and just in time – within hours he had suffered a complete heart block and had to be fitted with a pacemaker.
Incredibly, two pacemakers failed and in June last year he was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, and put on the heart transplant list.
He was fitted with a Berlin Heart, a mechanical pump to maintain blood flow. But it also meant Caleb couldn’t leave hospital until a donor was found – which could have taken three years.
Jenna recalls: “It was a really difficult time. The kids stayed in Wales, and Jamie and I switched every week. We’d meet at the station and go our separate ways.”
The one time the whole family came to London was for Christmas Day, when Caleb’s brothers and sisters decorated his bay and brought presents to open by his bed. Then he developed the infection that resulted in urgent surgery to change one of the chambers on his Berlin Heart.
Six days later, on New Year’s Eve, Jenna and window cleaning firm owner Jamie were told the donor heart was on its way.
Jenna recalled her feelings were bittersweet. She says: “I always used to wonder why other transplant families weren’t more excited when the day finally came – you’re just thinking of that other family who has lost a child.”
However, since then, Caleb has gone from strength to strength.
Jenna says: “His heart’s great, he’s started taking steps and he’s making a lot more sounds.
“We’ve started going swimming, and Caleb loves going to the park on his little trike, or to walk the dogs. After all that we’ve been through, Christmas Day will be a real celebration. We’re so grateful.”
Jenna and her family are supporting GOSH’s Christmas Appeal. To find out more, visit gosh.org/donate/Christmas
