A TINY hole-in-the heart baby has been allowed home after pioneering surgery.

Francis Pape was so ill when he was born on November 11 that his parents asked for him to be baptised.

Ante-natal tests carried out at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, revealed that he had a life-threatening heart defect.

Proud parents Liz McGee, 28, and Brian Pape, 21, were only able to spend a few hours with their son before he was transferred to a neo-natal unit.

Ms McGee, from Thorntree, Middlesbrough, said: "He looked so perfect that it made it hard. We knew he needed the operation but there were these huge eyes looking back at you."

A day after he was born, he was transferred to the paediatric heart unit at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle.

During a successful eight-hour operation, it was discovered that he had three holes in his heart.

Experts decided to try a rare procedure known as a Ross Kenno, which uses tissue from donor babies to fill the holes.

Until this case, surgeons at the Freeman had never operated on a three-week-old baby.

His parents were warned that the procedure was risky and that their son's heart would have to be stopped during surgery.

The Freeman team explained that Francis's blood would continue to be circulated by a mechanical pump.

Ms McGee said: "We just knew he would be okay. When he went to theatre, we never said goodbye, we kissed him and told him everything would be fine and we would be waiting for him when he came back."

The operation went well, but as they were about to take him off the ventilator, surgeons discovered another small hole which had to be filled.

By the end of January, he was moved to an ordinary heart ward, and was allowed home this week.