“I feel like I can’t even enjoy my time with my baby”

AMUM faces seeing her baby son undergo major surgery after discovering he has a heart condition - despite medics reassuring her that he was perfectly healthy.

Abigail Hetherington, 19, from Accrington, was left inconsolable after receiving the devastating news that her tiny tot Vincent had two holes in his heart.

She claims to have been “completely” failed by the NHS after medics allegedly missed several opportunities to diagnose the lifethreatening defect during her pregnancy.

Abigail said doctors probed for abnormalities during multiple foetal medicine 4D scans as her brother has Cornelia De Lange Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder.

Her baby was also checked on by GPs and paediatric nurses multiple times who told her all was normal, according to Abigail.

Vincent was born on July 19 at Burnley General Hospital but it was not until he was eight-weeks-old that his mum realised there was a major problem.

He had been taken to an out-of-hours GP with a tummy bug but was then rushed to Royal Blackburn Hospital where doctors found a murmur and diagnosed him with two holes in his heart.

The tot will now have to undergo open-heart surgery at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool which is likely to take place between four and sixmonths-old.

Abigail says she has lost complete faith in the NHS system and with Burnley Hospital and says the defects should have been detected during multiple ante-natal scans.

She also feels GPs and health workers failed to act after raising concerns about Vincent’s breathing and feeding in the first few weeks of his life.

Abigail said: “It’s been absolutely awful, I was told I had a perfectly healthy baby and I trusted the fact that he was ok.

“I came home and went to an out-of-hours GP surgery because he had a tummy bug, next thing we were shipped to hospital.

“The doctor said ‘you’re aware of his heart murmur aren’t you?’ as if I already knew!”

Tiny Vincent was allowed home on Wednesday, September 18.

He will be monitored until October 21, when the family see a specialist and, if he has gained enough weight, they will arrange his surgery.

Abigail added: “I feel like I have been abandoned, the NHS has completely failed me.

“It is causing me quite a lot of anxiety, I can’t leave him in a room on his own, I’m always worried some