Our baby Ethan is back

Yet just a few weeks ago the infant's parents were bracing themselves for yet another family tragedy.

Here the couple tell their story of the nightmare months of heartbreak and how deliverance came out of the blue in the form of a simple pager message.

Gilli Davidson was travelling on a busy train when something started to bleep inside her handbag.

She dug into her bag and pulled out her pager to read a message that would change her life forever.

The message read: "Contact Guys. Have got a heart for Ethan."

For the last two months Gilli and her husband Adam had kept a bedside vigil as Ethan, their seven-month-old son, fought for life in a London hospital with a heart transplant his only chance of survival.

Now the news she had prayed for had, at last, arrived. Specialists at Guy's Hospital in London had found a donor, which meant there was hope for Ethan.

Gilli, from Saltdean, said: "When I saw the message I was shaking from head to foot.

"I was in such a state I could not even make my mobile phone work.

"I was on a crowded train and just blurted it out to a woman in front of me. She helped me phone the hospital."

The surgery was performed three weeks ago at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the specialist children's hospital in London.

The operation was a complete success and since then Ethan's condition has improved rapidly.

Gilli and Adam say they are overwhelmingly moved by the decision of the parents who donated their dead child's heart for the life-saving operation.

Speaking yesterday Gilli, 34, said: "It's fantastic to see Ethan smiling and laughing again.

"I've got my baby back.

"I can never thank the parents of the child who died enough for giving Ethan the chance of a future.

"I don't know who they are but I think about them a lot. To offer their child's organs was incredible. We hope that in their devastation and grief they will gain some comfort in this generous gift."

In April Ethan caught an infection and was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a chronic disease which attacks the heart muscles.

Specialists told Gilli and Adam, from Saltdean, a transplant was Ethan's only hope since nothing else could directly improve his condition.

The couple had already lost two sons before Ethan's health problems hit.

Their first son, Liam, was starved of oxygen at birth and died after four days. Then, 18 months ago, their third son, Robbie, was stillborn at 24 weeks.

For eight weeks Ethan clung to life in a incubator and Gilli and Adam, who also have a five-year-old son, Calum, feared tragedy might strike a third time.

But now they are ecstatic as they watch little Ethan's condition improve day by day.

When Ethan first became ill he was taken from the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton to a specialist intensive care unit at Guy's Hospital.

Throughout the entire ordeal the couple said the medical care and support they received was first class.

Gilli said: "I want to say thank you to them and to all the brilliant nurses and medical staff involved.

"We have been very, very lucky. Other babies in the hospital have died waiting for new hearts.

"It was terrible to see such a little scrap going through so much. All we could do was watch and wait.

"The odds were stacked against Ethan because he is only a baby and could only receive a heart from another small child."

The family can only marvel at the actions of the donor family to pass on the gift of life.

They hope it will set an example to other families who find themselves in the same tragic situation.

Gilli said: "I have already written a thank you letter to the anonymous donor's parents but that doesn't really seem enough for what they have done.

"Donating your child's organs must be one of the most difficult decisions for anyone to make.

"But I beg parents to think about it so if ever they are in that awful situation they know what to do and could save another child's life - just like Ethan's life has been saved."