Keep Tiny Hearts Beating in Your Nation

Dear Editor,

As a Professor of Congenital Heart Surgery and Consultant in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Bristol, I see first-hand how devastating it is for thousands of families who have a child living with congenital heart disease. 

Each year around 4,000 children in the UK are diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and it remains the UK’s most common birth defect, but sadly an estimated 400 of those children won’t survive until school age. 

There are many children with congenital heart disease who face a future of repeated surgeries and many whose hearts have become vulnerable to damage due to hours of being on the operating table. This shouldn’t be the case. Through my research, I am trying to improve surgical techniques and find a way to stop the hearts of babies and children becoming damaged during heart surgery. 

Without funding from the BHF, made possible only thanks to your incredible support, my team and I couldn’t continue our vital work. That’s why I am supporting the BHF’s Christmas Appeal, which aims to raise £750,000 towards research into heart disease. 

We urgently we need to find new ways to increase survival rates and improve the quality of life of children with congenital heart disease. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to ensure children get the start in life they deserve and I am encouraging everyone to donate whatever they can to the BHF this Christmas. 

For more information, visit christmas.bhf.org.uk         

Yours Sincerely,
Professor Massimo Caputo
Professor of Congenital Heart Surgery and Consultant in Cardiothoracic Surgery
University of Bristol