She tries to keep up with her friends – but Jennie Burrows has to rest while they carry on playing.
The eight-year-old has a rare heart condition and will eventually need a transplant.
Her parents say it’s hard to watch her struggle to run around like other children, while her lips and fingers turn blue because of her illness.
Dad Chris said: “When she was born, we were told her life expectancy would be her teenage years. Every day I think that one day we may lose her.
“The medical world is changing so fast and we just cling on to the hope that advances will be made.”
Chris and his wife Wendy, from Birstall, Leeds, discovered Jennie had a serious congenital heart condition through a scan.
Four weeks after she was born at Leeds General Infirmary, she underwent open heart surgery and had a further operation aged two.
Now Jennie is a lively eight-year-old, but she will one day go onto the transplant list.
Her dad, 29, added: “Jennie is very happy and I watch her play with her friends but she just can’t keep up. That is so hard to see.
“Simple things like doing a cartwheel, Jennie would have to sit down and rest. She just can’t do what her friends can.
“She is very positive though. Going to hospital doesn’t faze her and she knows what is going on.”
Inspired by his daughter, Chris is taking part in a gruelling bike ride to raise cash for the British Heart Foundation.
He is doing the 36-mile Robin Hood Bike Ride in Nottinghamshire on November 4.
Chris added: “We just don’t know what the future holds for Jennie and we want to encourage others to join in. If we can stop just one person from going through what we are, it will be something.”
For more information about the ride, which also includes a six-mile circular route, contact 0800 169 3672, email: northwestwales@bhf.org.uk or visit bhf.org.uk/rolin
* To donate, log on to: www.justgiving.com/Cris-Burrows
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