Ivy Scott may only have half a heart….but it’s certainly the biggest!. Brave Ivy, who celebrates her eighth birthday on Saturday, was born with a condition called hypo plastic left heart syndrome, which means she only has half a working heart. She spent her first birthday in hospital having surgery to replumb it, but since then her first thought at Christmas hasn’t been for herself. Every year since she came out of hospital, she has fundraised and delivered dozens of presents each Christmas to children in Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool.
Last week, she arrived at the hospital with more than two hundred presents which she had raised the money for herself. Proud mum Clare Bouch, 42, who lives with partner Chris, 42, an environmental officer, in Warrington, Cheshire, said: "Ivy has been delivering presents each Christmas to the hospital since she was two. She’s so thoughtful and is always thinking of others.
"She’s been in hospital herself and she can’t bear to think of children in there at Christmas instead of being at home with their families, so she’s always wanted to do something for them. She turns up at the hospital with bags and boxes - she’s like Father Christmas - but a much smaller version!".
Doctors picked up a problem with Ivy’s heart when Clare was 20 weeks pregnant. "We went for the scan and we were so excited at the thought of seeing our baby moving on the screen. We never imagined there would be bad news," she said. "But the sonographer went quiet and said she couldn’t see all of the heart properly. A consultant came in and said there was a problem and we needed more tests. We just felt numb with shock.".
