A young family were told their daughter was "hours away" from death after she suffered heart failure after catching a common cold this January - but little Lola Plimmer has been transported via helicopter to Newcastle's Freeman Hospital where she's now awaiting a life-changing heart transplant.
Lola, 18 months, caught a cold earlier this year - but the virus appears to have triggered an underlying condition and it began attacking her heart. She went into heart failure and the tot, from Stone near Stoke-on-Trent, needed cardiac massage and to be attached to an ECMO machine to save her life.
She was airlifted to Newcastle at the end of January, and underwent surgery to attach her to a state-of-the-art Berlin Heart, which operates heart function for her while she awaits a transplant, last week. Lola, and parents Ella Watt and Rob Plimmer, are now waiting alongside other incredibly poorly children for an appropriate donor heart to become available. There's no telling how long this could take.
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Lola's aunt Sophie said: "It began last month. She became ill with a virus that seems to have exacerbated an underlying heart condition." Mum Ella, 30, continued: "Her Berlin Heart is amazing. Being able to do the work of her heart is such a relief. It's amazing. Though obviously there are a lot of mixed-up feelings - we do not know how long it will take to get her a donor heart.
"We were in the Stoke hospital for about a week but then we were transferred to Birmingham and she was put on an ECMO machine. She was then the first ECMO child patient to be transferred by helicopter - the children's air ambulance - and we came to Newcastle.
"It's been an overwhelming time. Lola was hours away. After speaking to the surgeon who did ventricular massage to keep her alive said she had been just hours off. Being told that is just so hard.
"We have also had support from the amazing Children's Heart Unit Fund (CHUF). It's amazing what everyone has done for us as a family and for Lola in particular. What the nursing and medical staff do is amazing - they produce miracles on a daily basis.
Mum Ella, 30, was speaking at an event held by the Newcastle Hospitals Charity to highlight the importance of organ donation. She said: "I wanted to support this when I saw it was happening as my daughter is on the transplant list." Brick This LEGO creator Steve Mayes even designed a bespoke LEGO heart which has been on display for a week.
Earlier in February, aunt Sophie told the Stoke Sentinel about the horrifying days when the family realised Lola was ill. She said: ""It is all very sad and unexpected. She didn't even really have a cold. She seemed fine. But she was very tired and lethargic. Her breathing wasn't quite right. She wasn't herself at all.
"My sister had taken her to hospital. They thought she had a virus and was tired and fighting it off. But she then seemed to deteriorate quite quickly and was taken to the Royal Stoke. They realised the virus was attacking her heart. What has happened to her is very rare. Her heart was working too hard."
You can donate to Lola's GoFundMe page here.
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