Appeal for baby's heart operation passes £60k

Jasmin hopes to take Ollie for heart surgery in California

An appeal for £3m to help a toddler in need of life-saving heart surgery has raised £60,000 in the first six weeks.

Ollie from Gobowen, in Shropshire, was born with a hole in his heart and defects in his arteries.

His mother, Jasmin, said UK hospitals told her that they could not operate on him and had only offered palliative care, so she hopes to take him for surgery in the US instead.

She thanked supporters for their donations, adding that the family would not forget people's support.

Ollie's heart condition is known as pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (PA-VSD MAPCAs), and it has meant he has spent most of his first year in and out of hospital.

But while British and European hospitals have said they would not operate on him, Stanford Children's Hospital in California has said it should be possible, the family said.

The money would be needed to pay for the treatment, which involves a second stage six to nine months after the initial surgery.

When she started the appeal, Jasmin said she was aware of the scale of her fundraising challenge, but added: "For me it's not a matter of if I can get him there, it's a matter of when."