Brave recovery of Rhos-on-Sea boy who suffered cardiac arrest

Oct 15 2009 by Rob Davies, North Wales Weekly News

TWO years ago Jack Hill nearly died from a cardiac arrest brought on by a congenital heart condition.

But Jack, now 12, pulled through and recently took part in a sprint at his school sports day – and won.

That was in June in his final term at Ysgol Llandrillo yn Rhos. He’s now at Eirias High School, where he is actively joining in school sports and living a normal life.

It’s an amazing turnaround for a lad born with a hole in his heart and who has suffered years of ill-health as a result.

His mum Sarah says it wasn’t the fact he won the sports day race which makes her so proud, it was the fact he took part – because for Jack that took enormous courage.

Her only regret is that she wasn’t there to see him, as she had no idea he was competing: “Jack said he wasn't in anything so there was no point me going.”

“He came home from school and I noticed he was wearing a sticker which said ‘I came first’.

“I asked him who he’d pinched it off and he said, ‘I didn’t, I won the race’.”

Jack, of Rhos-on-Sea, is currently enjoying himself taking part in free running with his friends, which entails jumping off walls, said Sarah.

“I would never stop him because he is a boy. He has to live his life as a normal 12-year-old lad.”

And these days, with the help of his medication and a defibrillator inserted under the skin to regulate his heart, Jack can lead a normal life.

Two years ago, things were very different. Jack’s life nearly ended while on a school trip to the swimming pool at the leisure centre in Colwyn Bay.

At the time he was awaiting open heart surgery to remove an extra muscle which had grown round his weakened heart and which was squashing his aorta.

“I got a phone call to say Jack had collapsed, he’d had a cardiac arrest. The lifeguard, Simon Grant from Colwyn Bay, who deserves an award, kept him alive for 10 minutes, otherwise Jack would have been gone,” said Sarah.

“He had stopped breathing. The paramedics arrived and rushed him to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd. They told me he was a very sick boy and they didn’t know if he’d make it.”

Once his condition had stabilised, Jack was taken to Alder Hey in Liverpool. He was operated on to cut away the growth and a defibrillator was fitted.

In February it became infected but eventually, after things healed, he was given another which has since worked fine.

It’s been a stressful time for the family but it’s been made easier by the help of the British Heart Foundation and the charity’s nurse, Julie Starling, who has helped them understand Jack’s condition.

“Alder Hey and Broadgreen hospitals have been fantastic. While you are there, everything is fine.

“But when you come home it’s very scary and you feel totally on your own,” said Sarah,

“When I phone Julie it’s like having peace of mind, she’ll take me through whatever I need to know.”