Exclusive:
Little Ivy Scott battled her own health problems when she was born with half a working heart – now she spreads Christmas joy by fundraising money to buy presents for other sick children
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Little girl with half a heart plays Santa to poorly kids
Ivy Scott may only have half a heart….but it’s certainly the biggest!
Brave Ivy, who celebrates her eighth birthday on Saturday, was born with a condition called hypo plastic left heart syndrome, which means she only has half a working heart.
She spent her first birthday in hospital having surgery to replumb it, but since then her first thought at Christmas hasn’t been for herself. Every year since she came out of hospital, she has fundraised and delivered dozens of presents each Christmas to children in Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool.
Last week, she arrived at the hospital with more than two hundred presents which she had raised the money for herself.
Proud mum Clare Bouch, 42, who lives with partner Chris, 42, an environmental officer, in Warrington, Cheshire, said: “Ivy has been delivering presents each Christmas to the hospital since she was two. She’s so thoughtful and is always thinking of others.
“She’s been in hospital herself and she can’t bear to think of children in there at Christmas instead of being at home with their families, so she’s always wanted to do something for them. She turns up at the hospital with bags and boxes – she’s like Father Christmas – but a much smaller version!”
Doctors picked up a problem with Ivy’s heart when Clare was 20 weeks pregnant. “We went for the scan and we were so excited at the thought of seeing our baby moving on the screen. We never imagined there would be bad news,” she said.
“But the sonographer went quiet and said she couldn’t see all of the heart properly. A consultant came in and said there was a problem and we needed more tests. We just felt numb with shock.”
Further scans revealed that Ivy had a condition that meant only half her heart was formed properly. It occurs in only one in 4,000 babies, and accounts for just 1 per cent of congenital heart disorders.
At just eight days old, Ivy had her first open heart surgery. Clare said: “The surgeon said it had gone well, but nothing could have prepared us for seeing her after surgery. She was so swollen she looked like she’d done ten rounds with Mike Tyson. And she was covered in wires and tubes. But the main thing was, she’d made it through the surgery.”
Ivy had further surgery the following Christmas, and was there for her first birthday. And since then, she has made a good recovery. Clare, who is supported by the heart charity Tiny Tickers, said: “She has done so well, she always has a smile for everyone.”
Ivy made her first Christmas delivery in December 2018, where she delivered 90 gift bags for children and their families, containing biscuits and toiletries.
Clare said: “She was only so young, but she loved handing the gift bags out, and really got in the spirit of it all.”
Since then in 2019, three, she delivered Disney teddies to the intensive care unit. Clare said: “She had broken her leg that Christmas, but she still went to deliver the presents despite that. That wasn’t going to stop her!”
In 2020 and 2021, it was during Covid, so Ivy fundraised through a Just Giving site instead and donated the money to the hospital, raising £1,000 each time. She was back on the Santa delivery run in 2022, when she took books in as presents, and then last year and this year, she raised £1,000 and took in gifts of baby toys and presents for teenagers.
Clare added: “She loves arriving at the hospital, and puts all the Christmas presents in the entrance under their Christmas tree, and then staff come with a delivery cart and load up all the presents and she was with them to deliver them to the wards.
“She loves visiting each Christmas, it’s the part of Christmas she enjoys the most. She may only have heart a working heart, but she has the biggest heart in the world.”
Ivy added: “I feel sorry for the children who can’t be at home at Christmas, so I want to take something in to cheer them up.”
