12 December 2023 , 22:08
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Little Louis Jones is about to celebrate his first Christmas at home after a life-saving heart transplant – and just four months on from the operation, he is jumping for joy.
Mum Jade Jones said: “This is the Christmas we feared we might never get. We can’t wait to see Louis opening his presents. He’s going to get far too many but he deserves them after what he has been through.”
Louis, who is 22 months old, was born prematurely at 32 weeks in February last year and spent three weeks in a neonatal unit before being allowed home. But at eight weeks, he was rushed back in after suffering breathing difficulties, mottled skin and seizures.
Louis was put on a ventilator and transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, where he stayed for the next 17 months. Infections including meningitis and sepsis had led to myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.
Louis has spent the majority of his life in hospitals after he was born premature
His life was saved thanks to a donorDr Phuoc Duong, a cardiologist at Alder Hey, says: “Louis’ heart muscle was permanently damaged, and he needed to be in hospital to receive special intravenous medicine to keep the heart pumping. A transplant was the only option.”
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Jade, 29, a former care worker from Wigan, Greater Manchester, said it was a terrifying time for her and Louis’ dad, car detailer Keiran Duxbury, 31. She added: “They said if he didn’t get a new heart he could pass away. It was terrifying. I’d spend hours by his bedside just crying because I thought I was going to lose my baby.”
But in August, Jade got the call to say a donor heart had become available, and an air ambulance took them to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Incredibly Louis was allowed home just two weeks after the nine-hour op.
Jade said: “We will forever be grateful to the donor and their family, and we will be thinking of them this Christmas, being without their loved one. Thanks to them we can enjoy every magical moment with ours.” A Mirror campaign resulted in Max and Keira’s Law – opt-out organ donation legislation that has saved hundreds of lives since 2020.