This is Catherine and her daughter, Pippa.

Thirty five years ago Catherine was diagnosed with a hole in her heart.

"I was five when I had open heart surgery at Royal Brompton Hospital to repair an atrial septal defect in 1981. It was a far riskier operation then than it is now, thanks to the amazing expertise and pioneering techniques of the surgical and consultant team within the congenital heart disease service. 

At the end of 2015, we noticed that our little girl, Pippa, then four years old and just starting school, began getting breathless and very red cheeks. After prompt examination, she was referred to Dr Jawad and Dr Naqvi who diagnosed a partial atrioventricular septal defect and a leaky mitral valve, and told us that she would also need open heart surgery.

Their expertise has meant life-saving surgery not once, but twice, for our family

Naturally, it was a very scary time for our family but we took great comfort from the success of my own operation at Royal Brompton years before. Pippa was successfully operated on last March and is thriving. We chat regularly about the fact that she and I were both in Rose Ward, may have played in the same playroom and may even have had the same bay! We couldn't be more grateful to the team there. Their expertise has meant life-saving surgery not once, but twice, for our family."