Inverness baby has life-saving open heart surgery at three weeks old
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
When Catherine and David MacLean watched their son Harrison drift off to sleep they could do nothing but hope for the best.
Born at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow, he looked perfectly normal but they knew he had truncus arteriosis – a condition where some of the main blood vessels don’t separate in the womb resulting in less oxygen circulating the body.
"If left untreated, he would certainly die," Catherine said.
He needed open heart surgery.
"So, at three weeks old, with decreasing oxygen levels as each day went by, we watched little Harrison be put off to sleep and left him in the hands of the anaesthetists at 9am," Catherine recalled.
"We had the long wait to hear any news when we finally got a phone call at 6pm. He was just being transferred round to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) – all had gone well.
"The surgery was performed by Professor Mark Danton, a genius in his field and one of the top heart surgeons in the country.
"After spending 31 days in hospital, including six days on a ventilator in PICU, we were finally discharged and got to make the journey back home to Inverness."
It was a happy ending following a tricky pregnancy.
"It just wasn't a nice pregnancy at all, knowing what was coming but then everything being so uncertain as well – the pregnancy was not what it's supposed to be like," said Catherine (27), who is a staff nurse in medical high dependency at Raigmore Hospital.
"At my 20-week scan, the midwife noticed something wasn’t right and we were sent straight down to the QEUH where we were told our baby had a severe heart defect and would need life-saving surgery but there was still a possibility that he may still not survive.
"Fast forward to September, I was induced down in Glasgow and four days later – on our first wedding anniversary – along came Harrison.
"He was soon rushed to the ICU and then to surgery. I was very ill too because I lost a lot of blood."
David and Catherine had to travel down to Glasgow frequently during their pregnancy for appointments.
"We would sit and just cry our eyes out in the car back up to Inverness after every appointment," David said.
After watching such a small but mighty baby overcome open heart surgery, David decided he wanted to give something back.
While Harrison was in hospital, Catherine and David stayed at Ronald McDonald House, which is on the grounds of the QEUH and Royal Hospital for Children.
"It’s a five-minute walk from the hospital and gave us somewhere to stay, free of charge, with a lounge area, library, kitchen and laundry facilities," Catherine said. "They put on activities for children and adults staying there such as movie nights and massages to take your mind off being stuck in a hospital.
"It was the biggest comfort knowing that if anything with Harrison had gone wrong, David knew he could get there in five minutes."
Grateful David felt it was his turn to "pull his weight" and run the recent Edinburgh 10K to help the charity.
Despite a dodgy knee and little experience of running, the 40-year-old completed the course in just under an hour, while being cheered on by his wife and son.
"It's unbelievable how kind and supportive everyone is," said David, who is a Second Officer with CalMac Ferries. "They were all rooting for me so it really spurred me on. My goal was 70 minutes without stopping, and I managed to do it in 57.
"But my biggest achievement was the money I managed to raise – an amazing £1900.
"The charity were a godsend. I don't know, if it wasn't for them, where we would be."
Now, Harrison is eight months old and thriving.
"His scar has beautifully healed now, and he's coming on leaps and bounds – it really couldn't have gone any better!" said his mum.
"We are loving being home and being able to spend time as a family. We still have regular check-ups for him, but these are getting fewer as his health progresses and they are in Inverness now – so this saves us travelling again."
Despite this success, Harrison isn't quite out of the woods yet as he will have to have another surgery in the future.
David said: "We will probably need the Ronald McDonald House again when his next surgery happens, perhaps in a few years – hopefully not for a while.
"This is why I chose to raise what I could for them – it's a great place for people like us, especially from the Highlands, that more people should know about.
"We didn't have to worry about finding money for a hotel. Its facilities meant we were eating properly which made it feel as if it was a home away from home.
"The receptionists were so kind and friendly and were a real emotional support for us. When they'd let us, after his surgery, we took Harrison over the road to our room in the Ronald McDonald House. We could lie on the bed and have our own time with him, our extended family could come and visit there whereas the hospital still had restrictions limited to one visitor."
The charity's CEO Ken Simpson said: “At Ronald McDonald House Glasgow, we are absolutely committed to making sure that every family that needs our care gets our support. This can only happen with the compassion and generosity of so many friends of the House whether they are funders, families or volunteers.
"A very heartfelt thank you to David from us all here for undertaking the Edinburgh 10K on our behalf. David is our hero! Every step he ran will support future families as they face the challenges of having a seriously ill child in hospital.”
Click here to donate.
