Allie’s story gives anguished parents hope

ONE mother’s way of coping with her daughter’s heart surgery is helping parents of children with congenital heart defects.

Ann Haig kept a diary when her only daughter Allie underwent heart surgery in February 2000 she was seven months old and had already suffered a series of cardiac arrests.

Writing it all down was Ann's way of venting her raw emotions. She also had the inexplicable urge to keep a photographic diary.