Sophie's story

At 24 weeks pregnant, we found out our baby had a congenital heart disease. On that day, our lives flipped upside down. We were thrown into a world we knew nothing about, one we were barely even aware existed. Our baby had a condition called transposition of the great arteries (TGA), whereby the two main arteries of the heart were essentially the wrong way around.

Leon was born and, within four hours, had a small procedure to allow his heart to pump oxygenated blood around his body until he was strong enough to have open heart surgery. At six days old, Leon had that surgery. It took seven hours for surgeons to operate on his walnut-sized heart, switching his arteries to the correct position.

Heart conditions weren’t something we ever envisaged affecting us, but sadly, the reality is almost all of us will be affected. Heart Research UK funds incredible research into the prevention, treatment, and cure of Heart Disease, which is why I am running the London Marathon 2025 for them.