The little girl Waiting fo the most precious gift

BRAVE THREE-YEAR-OLD IN NEED OF HEART TRANSPLANT KEPT ALIVE BY MACHINE

- HELENA VESTY

WHILE children across the country enjoyed opening their presents yesterday, for three-year-old Arsala, this Christmas is very different.

Instead of being at home with her family, Arsala is in a hospital bed in Newcastle, 150 miles away from her home in Higher Blackley. And she had been waiting for help for nine months already.

This little girl is suffering with dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle which makes the muscle walls become stretched and thin.

That means she must have a heart transplant to save her life, and has been kept alive by a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) during the months she has spent on the transplant waiting list until a donor heart becomes available.

Arsala is not alone. More than 230 other children in the UK need this precious and ultimate gift of life if they are to see another Christmas.

Her dad, Baber Shahzada, explains: "Arsala amazingly can speak and understand Urdu, Spanish and English, but she is missing out on being a normal inquisitive three-year-old going to nursery and making friends at playgroup. Due to her VAD, she is vulnerable to infections and viruses as well as clots.

"Every day is a waiting game before we can all start our lives again when she gets that amazing gift from a very brave family. We are doing the best we can to take care of her while we wait but cannot express how difficult it is."