All charged up, the girl given a pacemaker the size of an AAA battery at just 7 ... trends now

View
comments

She was just seven days old when she had a pacemaker the size of a AAA battery fitted –and now 19 months later little Esmé Byrne is thriving.

Doctors had to put the tiny device into her stomach instead of her collarbone after she weighed in at just 5lb 2oz, and she is one of the youngest and smallest babies to be fitted with a pacemaker.

They had offered mum Rae Dawson a termination when they discovered Esmé's heart condition during a routine pregnancy scan. 

Now she's coming on in leaps and bounds and is going to be a flower girl with her sister, Amelia, two, at her parents' wedding next year.

Esmé was diagnosed with Complete Heart Block at 20 weeks in the womb. While blood pumps into the heart correctly, it only pumps out at half the rate, causing the heart rate to drop dangerously.