‘Our daughter was in hospital for so long she forgot what a Christmas tree was'

The festive season is extra special for Nicole Doherty, 35, and husband Paul, 38, from Essex, after their daughter Evie, seven, spent nearly a year waiting for a life-saving heart transplant

- SANDRA WALSH

Picking up the delicate glass bauble filled with white feathers, my daughter Evie gently hangs it on a branch then stands back, smiling, to admire the finished Christmas tree.

Written on the bauble is the word ‘Angel’ and, along with two star decorations handmade by Evie in hospital, it’s a reminder of a very different Christmas a few years ago when Evie was so desperately ill that we didn’t know if she’d see another.

Evie was a happy, inquisitive toddler of two when our world came crashing down. We noticed she kept getting colds and bugs, which she couldn’t seem to shake off. I was constantly taking her to the doctor, but was reassured she just had the usual childhood infections.

She wasn’t very well during Christmas 2014 with a high temperature and when she became breathless, I took her to the doctor again. Thinking she was developing asthma, the doctor gave us an inhaler for her.

But by the following March after yet another infection, she seemed worse than ever, breathless and lethargic and I was very worried. This time, the doctor called an ambulance to take us straight to A&E.

I’d left home with Evie and my purse, little knowing that I wouldn’t go home for another 10 months.

Following hospital tests, my husband Paul and I were ushered into a room, Evie tired and listless on my lap.

“She has dilated cardiomyopathy,” the doctor told us, explaining that Evie’s left ventricle wasn’t pumping blood and her heart was so swollen it was starting to fail. She’d need immediate specialist care and possibly a heart transplant if she was to stand any chance of survival.