A MOTHER has spoken of her son’s battle with heart disease as she urges others to support a charity campaign.

Rebecca Coutanche’s world turned upside down when she was told her new son Charlie was seriously ill.

Doctors did not know the youngster had three separate heart defects until he was born in December 2015.

The problems were all affecting Charlie’s heart’s ability to pump blood around his body.

At just ten hours old he was transported from the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton to the London Evelina Children’s Hospital.

There he underwent a procedure to try to widen his pulmonary artery and help improve blood flow.

Now 16 months old, Charlie is going from strength to strength but will need the procedure to be repeated in the future.

Mrs Coutanche, 36, from Stone Cross, Pevensey, said Charlie’s diagnosis was the last thing she had expected.

She said: “We were just in complete shock.

“My friends said they didn’t know how we coped, but we coped because we had to.

“It just never even occurred to us that our baby could be born with a heart problem.

“It had an enormous impact on our family, especially because it happened so close to Christmas.

“But Charlie is my special heart baby. I would do anything for him.”

Mrs Coutanche took on the British Heart Foundation’s MyMarathon challenge and raised £900 for heart research.

She is now calling on others to do the same for this year’s challenge, which takes place in May.

People are asked to walk or run a marathon in whatever way they like during May.

They can either do it all at once, or do a mile a day instead.

To find out more or to sign up for free, visit bhf.org.uk/mymarathon.

Around 4,000 babies are diagnosed with heart defects each year in the UK - that’s 12 babies every day. When Rebecca Coutanche, from Stone Cross in Pevensey, gave birth in December 2015, the last thing she expected was for her son Charlie to be one of them.

It wasn’t until Charlie was born that doctors discovered he had three different heart defects – a leaking tricuspid valve, pulmonary valve stenosis, and an underdeveloped right ventricle – which were all affecting his heart’s ability to pump blood around his body.

At just 10 hours old he was transported from the Royal Sussex County Hospital to the London Evelina Children’s Hospital, where he underwent a balloon procedure to try to widen his pulmonary artery and help improve blood flow.

Now 16 months old, and Charlie is going from strength to strength, but will need the balloon procedure to be redone in the future.

His mum Rebecca, 36, took on the British Heart Foundation’s MyMarathon challenge last May raising over £900 for the charity’s life saving heart research. Before the BHF existed, the majority of babies born with a heart defect in the UK did not survive to their first birthday. Today, thanks to research, around 8 of 10 survive to adulthood.

Now Rebecca’s calling on everyone in Sussex to help support babies like Charlie by taking on the MyMarathon challenge this year.

Rebecca said: “We were just in complete shock. My friends said they didn’t know how we coped, but we coped because we had to. It just never even occurred to us that our baby could be born with a heart problem.

“It had an enormous impact on our family, especially because it happened so close to Christmas. We spent Christmas in a Ronald MacDonald House because we had to be in London for Charlie while he was in hospital.

“But Charlie is my special heart baby. I would do anything for him. By taking part in MyMarathon it was a great way to help raise money for the BHF, and fund research that could help babies like Charlie born with a heart condition.”

With MyMarathon, you can complete the challenge in your own time, whether it’s over 4 hours, 4 days or 4 weeks. You don’t need calves of steel or lungs of iron to run a marathon. Now everyone can go the distance!

Every pound raised from MyMarathon will help the BHF fulfil its ambition to fund half a billion pounds of new research in the next five years, to revolutionise and accelerate the fight against heart disease.

To find out more or to sign up for free to MyMarathon visit www.bhf.org.uk/mymarathon