THE parents of a baby who underwent open heart surgery at just two weeks old to save his life are fundraising for the charity which supported them

Tamra Lewis and Josh Peirson, who live in Malton, are organising a weekend of fundraising event for the Children's Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) to thank them for the care their received following the birth of their son Finley.

Finley was safely born last July however just six hours after the birth his oxygen levels dropped and he was rushed to Scarborough Hospital's Special Care Baby Unit ( SCBU) where he was given two weeks of antibiotics.

Tamra said: "With myself unknowingly having Strep B, I also got an infection and ended up being sent back to theatre to be re-sutured.

"On Monday August 1 we thought we would finally be coming home. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, at 5am we received a call that Finley had massively deteriorated due to lack of breathing and had been put in an incubator. "They were completely puzzled as his infection markers had dropped, so multiple doctors had to completely check him over.

"One doctor was adamant he heard a heart murmur so they called Dr Mac, the Cardiologist, who found a defect on Finley's heart.

"So our little two week old boy was blue lighted from Scarborough Hospital to Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) with the Enhance Ambulance Team where on arrival there was a team ready to scan his heart.

"Finley went straight to the Neonatal Unit L43, for a detailed echo and once this had been completed, a surgeon was coming to explain to us exactly what was happening with Finley's heart."

Tamra said Carin Von Doom, the Congenital Cardiac Surgeon, explained that Finley had what's called Supracardiac Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage which meant the pulmonary veins do not connect normally to the left atrium. Instead, the four pulmonary veins drain abnormally to the right atrium through an abnormal connection.

" Carin said he needed open heart surgery ASAP as he had taken two weeks to actually produce the symptoms properly and was rapidly going down hill.

"It was actually the small duct in his heart, that when your born usually closes, that stayed open and that's how Finley had survived for 14 days before deteriorating. We were then told theatre would be within the next couple of days."

Tamra added: "At this point we were given accommodation at the Brotherton Wing in the Hospital, courtesy of the CHSF.

"This was a godsend as I had only had surgery myself days ago and was currently in a wheelchair and couldn't walk or drive."

Finley had his surgery on the Wednesday, and with around-the-clock care in the Children's Intensive Care Unit, by Friday he was moved to the High Dependency area.

Tamra said: "Because of all the staff on these wards, Finley finally got to go home on the following Thursday as a total of 24 days in the hospitals.

"Now, as first time parents, we never imagined anything like this to happened when thinking about having our baby boy.

"We owe so many people a massive thanks, and especially Carin Von Doom and her team for accomplishing the operation and saving our baby boy's life.

"Multiple members of staff from all the Children's Heart Surgery Fund's wards looked after Finley for the 11 days and this is just a way of giving back."

Tamra said; "Finley still has a long way to go as he has a Cor Tritriatum which the Cardiac Consultants are reviewing every three months and a Coarctation of the Aorta which was found in April which also means he needs more heart surgery which we are currently waiting on."

"Because of everything Finley and our family has been through, we habe created a Fundraising Weekend full of events to raise as much money for the CHSF as possible.

Over the weekend of August 19 and 20 Finley's family are doing fundraising activities at the Hyde Park pub in Norton.

Saturday will include a car boot from 10am and at 7pm a variety of pub games to win prizes.

On Sunday, from 10am, there will be dry haircuts for all ages and bake sale. From 1pm, children's entertainment, appearance from the Official Katie Bear, facepainting, Meet and Greet Stig and a Montesa Trials Bike Raffle.

Tamra said: "If anyone wants advice, or support, please do get in touch as it is a very overwhelming experience to go through and talking to others helps massively if you are going through something similar."

Anyone who would like to support the fundraising can also do so at https://www.justgiving.com/page/finley-peirson-childrens-heart-surgery-fund