The parents of a baby born with serious heart conditions were convinced they would "never see him again".
Karl Chester said he and his partner Katie Bradshaw were notified of a prenatal discovery of a right sided aortic arch in the lead up to their son's birth. The condition, where the heart's arteries wrap around the trachea, often does not have symptoms so the pair were optimistic at first that there would be no issues.
But the couple, from Warrington, told the ECHO they were "terrified" after their son, Reid, turned "blue" following an emergency caesarean in May, this year. The newborn was whisked away and placed on a ventilator at the local hospital - and when it was clear more action was needed he was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
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Dad Karl, 31, said the experience was "torture" and they were terrified they had seen their son for the last time. Karl and Katie, 32, who had barely recovered from the caesarean, rushed to the children's hospital to discover Reid's condition was "a rare variant" and he needed surgery.
Karl told the ECHO: "I was expecting that to be the last I saw him. I had done some research into the condition, probably to my own detriment, but I didn't realise how rare it was. The surgeons said they had only done about 15 of these surgeries over the years.
"When he was born it was all a blur - we felt like we were in fight or flight mode. We just had our fingers crossed hoping everything would work out. Reid ended up having two surgeries on his heart and he was only seven days old."
Karl said the surgeries were a success and the family spent the next three weeks staying in the Ronald McDonald House at the hospital. Karl said he and Katie were there watching the ventilator following the surgery - and started to feel "more confident" the more they spoke with the surgeons.
The couple were there the moment Reid woke up, spending "as much time as we could with him" in the following weeks. Karl said: "He stopped gargling in his sleep and started breathing normally. He was so quiet. We didn't realise that was what he was meant to sound like.
"It was so refreshing. He was like a real baby. But the surgeons need all the recognition. They were superheroes. They are the celebrities of today."
And now 15 weeks on from the "terrifying" experience, Reid is back at home with his family "acting like any healthy baby should". Karl said: "He's screaming, crying and keeping us up at night but we don't mind. If you look at him now you'd never believe what he went through."
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