A MOTHER has spoken of her distress as she searches for answers as to why her 23-month-old baby is ill.

Little Rosie Kirkman needed open heart surgery just days after being born, and nearly two years on, she is still suffering with mysterious symptoms.

Mum Pamela, 42, from Little Oxcroft, in Laindon, said: “Our brave daughter Rosie has had to fight for her life from day one. At just five days old she went through open heart surgery to repair an interrupted aortic arch.

“After nine hours of intense surgery, little did we know that this was just the start of Rosie’s fight, and not the end.

“I had a little boy in 2002 who had a heart condition and he passed away at six-months. When Rosie started having problems, it felt like déjà vu.”

An interrupted aortic arch is a very rare heart defect in which the aorta is not completely developed.

Mrs Kirkman said: “Shortly after the operation, we found out that Rosie had other problems with her oesophagus and was unable to swallow liquids.

“She didn’t get on well with breastfeeding or the bottle and they had to put a tube in her to feed her. We had to quickly learn how to put them down her nose ourselves or be forever dependent on our local hospital.

“After six months we found out that Rosie was going to be going down for more surgery to have a peg put into her tummy to feed her and that way her tube could be taken out of her nose.

“She could have to have the tube attached for her whole life. We kept hoping we could get her on solids but her body just can’t cope and then we land up back in hospital.

“She is so happy in herself, if you met her, you wouldn’t know anything was wrong with her apart from seeing the tube. She is still in six to nine month clothing and is the size of a six month old baby but she has the intelligence of a two-year-old little girl.

“She acts like a normal two-year-old but she can only really walk around with the furniture. It is difficult because she has this tube constantly attached to her, but if she didn’t have it, she would lose weight really quickly.”

Rosie is now awaiting an MRI to look at why the blood flow from her neck going to her head is too fast.

She will also need another open heart surgery to correct her aortic stenosis once she has grown.

“We keep getting told that they will find out what is wrong with Rosie but to date we don’t have many answers and the hospitals she goes to don’t seem to know what to do next.

“It has been really tough, we have a 23-year old daughter, Charlotte, and also have a six-year-old daughter, Emma, and it is difficult on her because we have to go to the hospital so much.

“We want the hospital to look at Rosie’s oesophagus again but the hospital won’t fund it so we are trying to raise the money ourselves. For all tests and treatment we are looking at a minimum of £4,000 so we are trying to fundraise for it.”

Stay and Play have kindly offered their indoor play area free of charge to help Rosie and donated the proceeds of their clairvoyant evening raffle.

Mrs Kirkman added: “We are very grateful to Stay and Play, and are hoping to hold a raffle if we can find businesses to donate prizes.”

The fundraising evening, held at Stay and Play, in Durham Road, Basildon, will take place on Sunday February 26 from 6.15pm, tickets are £5 for children and £1 for adults.

For more information, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/answersforrosie and book tickets by calling 07803287277.