'Little fighter' Minnie McHale faces second round of open-heart surgery in Leeds

But the brave tot was born with a life-threatening heart condition and had to undergo open heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary's congenital heart unit at just 13 days old.

Now aged seven months, doctors have warned Minnie's worried parents that she may need a second round of the high-risk surgery over the coming months - a decision currently in the hands of the surgical team and due any day now.

Mum Tara Farrar, 32, said: "We're just waiting to find out. I'm preparing myself that she will be having it. The first was awful because she was a newborn, tiny baby but in other ways, she didn't have a clue. I feel like this time around will be worse because she's older and more aware. She knows who we are, I cuddle her to sleep - I won't be able to do that and she might want it.

"Last time she went for her op she was sleeping anyway, as a newborn, but this time wheeling her down, she's going to be awake. I feel she'll be looking at me thinking 'mum, what are you doing?' It's all a stress."

But she added: "She's my little fighter."

It was during Tara's pregnancy scans that medics discovered little Minnie had a heart defect called coarctation of the aorta - a narrowing of one of the arteries which sends blood around her body.

Doctors told Tara and her fiance Alex McHale, 33, that the condition meant she was safe while in the womb but once born, would become a life-threatening emergency.

After three days of attempted inductions, baby Minnie was born by Caesarean section on her due date of July 19 and immediately whisked away to the neonatal unit.

Tara recalled: "I wanted to keep her inside. Everyone was saying 'you're going to be induced' and I knew she didn't want to come out early.

"[Her birth] was a mixture of emotions. We'd been in hospital for three days and it was nice to know we were going to meet her but obviously I knew she was going to be taken away."

She added: "I was out of it but I do remember her being born. I did get to see her a little bit and her dad got to cut the cord. But then they took her straight away. I didn't get to see her for about four hours. She was in an incubator, with lots of wires monitoring her heart rate and a nasal tube in."

During Minnie's open heart surgery, the unit's surgeons operated for 10 hours to remove the narrowing artery section and patch up one of two holes in her heart.

Tara said: "It was awful. Just waiting. They said if the operation goes on longer or if we ring early, don't panic - but you can't help it. I think they said it might take about eight hours and you're just thinking 'why haven't they rung?'"

Luckily all had gone well and little Minnie was kept in intensive care for 24 hours, before transferring to high dependency for five days and then onto the general ward.

Her proud parents were finally able to take her home to Carleton, Pontefract, on August 19.

Tara said: "That was amazing. It was my sister's 21st birthday part as well so we just surprised everyone. Everyone was crying."

Since then, Minnie has had frequent scans and check-ups at LGI and Tara was taught to spot signs of any heart failure.

But recent tests have shown a leaky valve and a consultant told the worried family another operation was looking likely.

Tara said: "The aorta is fine but she has a leaking valve now, which means blood is going through the wrong way. They've been keeping an eye on her and before Christmas it was looking slightly better. But then we went on January 29 and they said it was looking slightly worse now. If she does need the operation, it will be in the next few months."

In the meantime Tara is focusing all her attention on Minnie who she said has become a "cheeky, very happy baby".

The couple praised the care at LGI and the support they have received from the Children's Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) - and backed the YEP's Have a Heart campaign, to help the charity raise £1m this year.

She said: "Because of them, we were able to stay in a room at Brotherton, near Minnie. I was breastfeeding and was given three meals a day. All their support and help is just amazing. They got her a little certificate after her surgery for her to look at and we can talk to her about it. I'm creating a memory box too and have taken photos of her. I want her to be proud of her scar and grow up and not be ashamed of it."

In October, Tara and Alex, who is a singer, organised a music night at a Castleford pub and raised £3,000 - split between CHSF and The Sick Children's Trust, which runs Eckersley House, where parents can stay while their child is at LGI.

Tara has also signed up to do a sky dive for CHSF in July.

"When they have helped so much and you've been through something like this, it makes you realised and want to give back."

To sponsor Tara visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tara-farrar.

YEP's Have a Heart campaign

At the beginning of February, the YEP launched the Have a Heart campaign - our pledge to help the Children's Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) in Leeds reach its £1m target for donations in 2020.

We will be running articles throughout the year to shine a light on the work the fund does to keep the congenital heart unit at Leeds General Infirmary beating.

Each year, the life-saving unit treats thousands of the region's poorliest children and adults.

To donate:

Visit chsf.org.uk/donate to give a one-off donation or to set up a regular, direct debit donation.

Or pay cheques to: Children’s Heart Surgery Fund at 3 Oxford Place, Leeds, LS1 3AX