Hundreds support Aylesbury baby with 'hole in her heart' ahead of surgery

Hundreds of people have contributed to a fundraiser supporting a family in Aylesbury whose baby is set to undergo open heart surgery.

Seven-month old baby, Harlyn-Raine Kelly, has a Ventricular Septal Defect, which is known colloquially as a ‘hole in the heart’.

Cory Kelly, Harlyn-Raine’s father, wrote in the fundraiser, which can be found online here: “In order for a VSD to be considered large, it usually ranges between 6mm-10mm. Harlyn’s hole measures double this at 20mm.”

Harlyn-Raine is due to have open heart surgery, but Cory says the waiting list for the procedures, that she would undergo at Southampton Children’s Hospital, is three months long.

Also, the family have detailed in their fundraiser, that Harlyn-Raine requires rare medications. Such is the obscure nature of the treatment she needs the family claim they were sent the wrong products after a 101 call.

Cory wrote: “These medications were prescribed because her heart is having to work three times as hard and due to this she is at risk of blood buildup in her lungs.”

Also, the family have revealed a harrowing experience where Harlyn-Raine stopped breathing four times and how they were told she should be put on an end-of-life machine approximately two months ago. They say that during this period they were told she was going to die. She was suffering with canosis, a condition that made her skin turn blue and grey.

Cory is self-employed and actively seeking to find as much work as possible, while Harlyn-Raine’s mother has stopped working to look after her, and is no longer bringing home wages.

Cory said: “Harlyn will be in a hospital two hours away for a minimum of two weeks and requires a larger amount of care after her operation for at least eight weeks.“This is a call for help, we are trying to raise as much money as we can for our “Harlyn fund.” This will ensure that we can get the care she requires before and after surgery, alongside the other expenses that are thrown our way.”

At the time of writing over 200 people have contributed to the family fundraiser, generating over £6,000.