Twelve-year-old Lauren White, from Monaghan, was born with a congenital heart defect known as Tricuspid Atresia. She was missing a tricuspid valve which meant that the blood was not flowing between the right chambers of her heart.
Lauren, the youngest of three children, was born in Monaghan Hospital and her mother, Mary, knew something was amiss as Lauren's colour was wrong and she was christened immediately.
She was then brought by ambulance to Cavan Hospital where doctors realised something was seriously wrong. Mary will never forget the doctor's response when she asked if her baby had a hole in the heart and he said "if only it was". Lauren was then transferred to the national paediatric cardiac centre at Crumlin. Tests revealed that Lauren would need surgery. "We were in total shock and there was lots of crying."
She was just four days old when she had an operation to insert a shunt. While the operation was successful, Lauren's condition necessitated further operations. When she was four-and-a-half years old, Lauren's condition started to deteriorate. "She was very tired. Her lips and fingertips were blue. She could play but not as much as other children, she would get out of breath," says Mary.
So Lauren had open heart surgery under a procedure known as the Fontan Procedure performed by surgeon Maurice Neligan. The procedure is designed to direct the blood coming back from the body directly to the lungs, without being pumped to the lungs by the heart. Lauren was put on a bypass machine to take over the function of her heart and lungs during the operation.
"After the surgery, she went on various medications but she's well used to it and thinks nothing of it," says her mother. "She did great out of it until she was 11." Lauren then had another procedure in December when a stent - a small expandable wire to keep an artery open - was inserted. "It wasn't a great success. She was very lethargic and she had to use a wheelchair."
Then in April last year, Lauren's surgery was brought forward and she underwent a nine-and-a-half hour operation in the second part of her Fontan Procedure. She spent four days in intensive care. "It was a tough time," says Mary, who, with her husband, Brian, found comfort in a parents' support group that met at the hospital. They also found "the nurse liaison system fantastic, while the play specialist was brilliant with Lauren".
While Lauren's illness was very difficult to cope with, Mary tried to make life as normal as possible for her brothers, Brian (17) and Gary (15), by taking them on special days out when Lauren was in hospital. "My philosophy is plenty of garlic and plenty of laughter," says Mary candidly. At St Louis primary school they provided a special needs assistant which helped a lot. "Now Lauren is doing very well and it's part of her life. She loves to play and sing and dance. She's mad about Monaghan Harps and wants to play Gaelic. I'm not so sure about that . . ."