Parents tell of daughter's transplant 'miracle'

The parents of a baby girl who was dying of multiple heart defects have spoken of their 'miracle' after a transplant for their daughter was found at the 11th hour.

Claude and Martin Bride, from Tooting, south London, say they were overjoyed when they were told a heart transplant had been located in Europe for 13-month-old Margaux.

The couple had been told a heart transplant was the only hope of saving Margaux, who has undergone 15 operations since being diagnosed in the womb with multiple heart defects.

The baby girl underwent a heart transplant on Friday night after a team of doctors from the Royal Brompton Hospital in London rushed to collect the heart, said to have been from a one-year-old girl.

Mr and Mrs Bride had already made a desperate television appeal for a heart donor last month after doctors told them a transplant was her only hope of survival.

Their daughter was resuscitated twice after suffering cardiac arrests on Wednesday and Thursday and the couple had been told she was terminally ill.

The couple were told on Friday lunchtime that a suitable heart could be available.

"It was a real miracle. The timing was just perfect," Mrs Bride said.

"The transplant team was brilliant, they really tried to save every second that they could."