Chanel's No.1 in heart op charts

Chanel Murrish had a stent placed in her heart at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital when she was just one minute old – and went under the knife again seven days later.

Now aged one year, she has her place in the Guinness Book of Records.

Mother Fay, 25, of Seaham, County Durham, said: “We knew she was probably the youngest in the UK to have the operation but the surgeon kept saying he thought she was the youngest in the world.

“We applied to the Guinness Records Office and were amazed to find out she actually was.”

Fay and husband Michael were twice offered a termination during the pregnancy, so slim were Chanel’s chances of survival.

But the couple refused to give up after seeing their unborn child give the thumbs up on an ultrasound scan.

In her first year of life, Chanel has undergone ten operations, including two more open heart surgeries, to repair a condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome – a problem that affects just one in every three million babies and means only the right side of her heart beats.

The youngster must take a cocktail of tablets every day to avoid heart failure and dehydration, will need further surgery to bypass the left side of her heart and has only just began eating orally.

Mrs Murrish said: “Chanel wasn’t expected to survive but she has proved everybody wrong.

“She’s such a determined little monkey. She’s sitting up and starting to dance to music, shuffling about on her bum.

“The doctors told us she has low oxygen levels and probably wouldn’t have much energy but she’s got tonnes. She never stops.”

Chanel’s condition was identified at her 20-week scan, when doctors put her chances of survival at one in five.

“There was no way I could get rid of my baby, especially when she started kicking,” said Mrs Murrish, also mum to Chase, five, and Cole, two.

“Realistically we’ve no idea how long we will have with Chanel but she’s an absolute gift. We take each day as it comes and just enjoy every second with her.”