A COUPLE who lost one of their twin daughters when she was just a week old are backing a campaign to raise funds for a heart charity.
Lola Gibson lost her fight against a rare heart infection in October 2008 – and twin sister Madison almost died from the same condition days later.
Madison is now 15 months old, and a happy and healthy toddler, so mum Kelly and dad Colin, of Welbeck Avenue, Chadderton, want to give something back to those who helped them in their hour of need.
The family have set up the Lola Fundraising Appeal in aid of the British Heart Foundation, and will be supporting National Heart Month throughout February when the charity will call on the public to make a stand against the UK’s biggest killer through the Red for Heart campaign.
Kelly, 26, explained: "Both babies were full-term of good, healthy weights and with no problems. But when we got home they both became jaundiced so we took them back to the Royal Oldham. At six days old I told doctors something wasn’t right with Lola. They thought at first we were just being over the top but when you compared her to Madison you could tell straight away. After she died we wanted to get Madison checked out but they didn’t find anything at first. A few days later we rushed her to Booth Hall hospital after she just started screaming and turning grey. They sussed out something was wrong with her heart – it was severely dilated and didn’t have a pumping mechanism. Lola’s post-mortem had revealed she died from viral myocarditis – an infection that attacks the heart – and Madison was going through the same thing. She was transferred to Pendlebury Hospital and then down to a specialist unit in Leicester. The doctors gave her five hours to live, so how she pulled through we do not know. She really is a miracle baby."
Madison remains on medication and will require regular check-ups to keep an eye on her condition.
"We don’t know if Lola could’ve been saved but if she was somewhere like Pendlebury where the BHF are always doing things they may have been more aware of what was actually going on. People think only older people benefit from their work but there is a lot of children with heart problems out there and they need the life-long support."
People are encouraged to wear red on February 26 to help raise awareness of heart disease.
"The British Heart Foundation is so close to our hearts and it means so much to us so I would urge as many people as possible to get on board and support the charity," said Kelly.
Visit www.bhf.org.uk for more information.
