BABY Megan-Rose Gidley, who battled life-long health problems after suffering six heart attacks shortly after she was born, died last week in hospital.

Her family said she seemed to be doing well during her last six weeks, the longest period she spent at home in Ferndown in her ten month battle for life.

But on Saturday, September 28, she developed a temperature and was rushed to intensive care at Southampton General Hospital. Her condition deteriorated over the next couple of days.

Mum Jemima, 30, said they faced the hard decision whether to turn off Megan's life support, or put her through a risky operation which promised her at best a few months respite.

“We didn't want her to have to die on the operating table so we made our decision,” she said.

“And she died peacefully and free from pain in my arms. Now she won't have to put up with any more tubes and machines.

“It was such a shock, she seemed to be doing so well at home, she was starting to learn to roll herself and other things which she hasn't been able to learn in hospital.

“It was a blessing to have her at home for her final few weeks, and we had time to get her christened. She was starting to get a little personality of her own.”

Mrs Gidley said the family, including her husband Philip, 31, daughter Rebekah, ten, and son Taylor, four, were struggling to come to terms with their loss.

“We are going through all the emotions at the moment, but have shut down into our own little worlds,” she said.

“Taylor keeps us going because he is too young to understand what is going on, he keeps saying Megan is living on the Moon.

“We have had a lot of support from family and friends which means a lot.”

Megan's funeral will take place in Christchurch later this month. Her family, from Tamar Close, plan to decorate her coffin with pink hearts, ribbon and lilies.

A friend has set up a Facebook page 'Help for Megan Rose' collecting tributes and asking for donations towards the funeral costs.

Visit www.facebook.com/pages/Help-for-Megan-rose/1412483908980530?fref=ts.

Royal Bournemouth Hospital

BABY Megan's fight for life featured in the Daily Echo last month after her mum claimed the Royal Bournemouth Hospital had failed to identify her heart problem from pre-natal scans.

She said this was despite sonographers struggling to detect the outflow from Megan's heart, as recorded in her medical notes.

She said this meant that surgery which might have prevented her six heart attacks and stroke was not carried out soon enough, and due to the damage these caused to her blood vessels she wasn't eligible for a heart transplant.

Mrs Gidley said they also failed to detect that Megan had a malformed dysplastic kidney.

Paula Shobbrook, director of nursing at the hospital, said: “We are very sorry that Mr and Mrs Gidley's daughter has died and our deepest sympathies go out to them and to the family.

“We would like to reassure Mr and Mrs Gidley that we are getting an independent expert opinion to address their concerns, as promised when we met with them.

“We will be in touch with them very shortly but in the meantime if they have any further questions, we ask that they do not hesitate to get in touch.”