When Amy Roberts was born with solely half a working coronary heart, she was not anticipated to outlive.

Doctors had suggested her dad and mom to terminate the being pregnant at 20 weeks after discovering the difficult situation. But they refused, wanting to provide their unborn little one a combating likelihood.

Amy went by way of three open coronary heart surgical procedures as a baby, and the chance has paid off.

At the age of twenty-two she has grow to be the oldest identified residing particular person within the UK with half a coronary heart. And since becoming a member of a fitness center 4 years in the past, her coronary heart perform has improved a lot she has been advised she is unlikely to want a transplant till later in life.

Amy, from Worsley, Greater Manchester, mentioned: "Doctors said that if I survived I would be needing a transplant in my early 20s. But at my last scan they told me my heart function has got better and is much stronger. They said I may not need a heart transplant until my early 40s, which is amazing news."

She added: "I started working out when I was 18, as I was so weak and ill at that point. At first I couldn't lift a single weight, but I started off slowly and built myself up. Now I feel great."

Amy, who lives with dad and mom Helen and Tim, was born with each coronary heart arteries had been the fallacious method round and she or he had a double inlet left ventricle.

The very uncommon defect means the fitting facet of the center is small and underneath developed, and the blood provide goes to the left facet as a substitute.

It got here as a shock to her dad and mom, who already had kids Sophie, now 24, and Chris, now 43.

Amy underwent coronary heart surgical procedure at simply 5 days outdated, with medical doctors placing a shunt right into a foremost vein to maintain her alive.

She then had additional difficult operations aged two and 7, to replumb her coronary heart to maintain it working. Despite hating PE at college, Amy has embraced a health regime to assist strengthen her coronary heart.

She mentioned: "Now I train five times a week and I'm a personal trainer. I'm so glad I built up my strength like this - its given me a new lease of life."

A spokeswoman for Tiny Tickers, a charity for infants with coronary heart situations, mentioned: "Amy is doing incredibly well. She was not given very good odds of survival. Most patients with this condition don't survive beyond their teens."

• For extra info go to www.tinytickers.org