Mother’s heartfelt hope Felix’s battle will raise awareness

Hedland mother Ariana Potts hopes her son’s dogged fight for life when just five weeks old can help raise awareness for other “heart kids” in the Pilbara.

Mrs Potts’ son Felix was airlifted to Perth’s Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in 2013 after he struggled to put on weight in the first weeks of his life and was then observed to have difficulty breathing.

The Hedland Health Campus’s paediatrician quickly ordered chest X-rays, which revealed Felix had serious heart problems.

That night, the Potts family had already been flown to PMH and were in consultation with specialists.

A few weeks later, Mrs Potts and her husband Chris had to watch as their baby boy was wheeled away for open-heart surgery to repair the three holes in his heart.

“Felix was … asleep when we handed him over, which made it easier to give him a kiss and walk away as he was unaware of what was happening, ” Mrs Potts said.

“(He) was in surgery for six hours and when (my husband) Chris got the call from (the surgeon) to say surgery had gone well … it was such a relief.

“We couldn’t wait to see our little boy.”

Luckily, Felix has continued to bounce back to health in the two years since the surgery.

Ms Potts said he still has delayed muscle growth and strength as a result of his heart problems, but that has not stopped him being cheeky.

“(His trials) sound bad but he is a cool kid … he is exactly how you would expect a two-year-old to be, ” she said with a laugh.

Mrs Potts now hopes to support other families with heart kids, the way she was supported.

She said while in Perth, her family were visited by a volunteer from non-profit group HeartKids WA.

The volunteer was also a heart kid parent and able to provide advice about what to expect and what to ask the cardiologists.

She also brought the Potts family lunch and even sat in to watch over Felix when they could not be there.

“We didn’t even need to ask, Maree (the volunteer) was there ready to help, nothing was too big or too small, ” Mrs Potts said.

Mrs Potts now aims to set up a HeartKids support group in Hedland.

“We (want) … to ensure other families going through this stressful time can have to same level of support we were lucky enough to have, ” she said.

Mrs Potts can be contacted on ariana312@gmail.com.

Ben Leahy

Senior Journalist

North West Telegraph

West Australian Regional Newspapers

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Email: benjamin.leahy@northwesttelegraph.com.au

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Subject: CCI-Id: B64108382Z.1 nwt web family grateful from the heart