Swim champion returns to hospital that treated him

Three female hospital staff standing with a 15-year-old boy. The women are all in scrubs, two of them in grey and one in light blue. Two of them have their thumbs up while the third is standing with her arms at her side. All of them are looking at the camera and smiling. The boy has short, curly blonde hair and is wearing dark clothing with two medals round his neck. He is holding them, looking at the camera and smiling.Image source, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
Image caption,

Ashby returned to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children to celebrate his swimming success

  • Published

A teenager who was born with a life-threatening birth defect has returned to the hospital where he was treated to share his championship swimming medals.

Ashby had surgery at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children when he was six-and-a-half days old to fix a hole in his diaphragm which went undetected during his mother's pregnancy.

The 15-year-old began swimming competitively when he was nine, before going on to win multiple competitions and a national championship.

Ashby's mother Sarah said: "For us the memory of those early days is a trauma we carry with us, but we've been incredibly fortunate. The NHS, our consultants, and his coaches have given Ashby the chance to thrive."

Sarah said she knew something was wrong as soon as Ashby was born in Torbay, Devon because he was "very still" and she could not feel him breathing.

Doctors found Ashby had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia that caused his stomach and kidneys to move into his chest and compress his heart and lungs.

He was then transferred to Bristol for surgery.

"It was incredibly traumatic," Sarah said. "We had to put our trust in the NHS at that moment."

"When he came out of theatre the surgeon gave us the thumbs up, and my husband James just fell to his knees with relief," she added.

A mother sat next to her baby in an intensive care unit cot. She has long dark hair and is wearing a red T-shirt. Her back is to the camera and she has one hand stretched out to touch her baby boy's head. The baby is lying in the cot with a white blanket over him. Medical equipment is around him. Image source, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
Image caption,

Sarah said Ashby's health issues were "incredibly traumatic"

Following the operation, Ashby spent several days on life support.

When he was three-and-a-half-weeks old, he was able to return home to continue his recovery.

Although he has lead a normal life, Ashby still sees consultants in Bristol twice a year to monitor the lasting effects of the surgery, which include a sunken breast bone, rib flare, and weakened stomach muscles.

A boy swimming in a pool. He is captured moving with one arm coming up out of the water in a stroke. Half his face is underwater, but his mouth is open. He is wearing a white swimming cap and black goggles.Image source, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
Image caption,

Ashby began swimming competitively when he was nine years old

The champion swimmer said: "Swimming is a very exposing sport, so lots of people ask me about my surgery because they can see the scars and my rib flare as well.

"But I just tell them what I had surgery for when I was younger."

He said the swimming community was "very supportive".

Martin Gargan, clinical chair for University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust's women and children's division, said: "It is wonderful to hear of Ashby's swimming success after overcoming so much in his early life."

Get in touch

Tell us which stories we should cover in Bristol

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, external, X, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

Related topics