Colchester girl defying medics’ predictions to mark tenth birthday

She entered the world with a series of severe and complex heart and intestine conditions, spending her first 11 months alive in intensive care units.

Nothing has slowed her down though.

Gracie-Leigh Tarrant has spent her short life defying medics’ predictions as she continues to grow into the most extraordinary little girl.

The nine-year-old’s journey started at just two days old, when she underwent a five-hour operation at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridgeshire after doctors found she had a life-threatening heart condition where her heart rate can go up to 300 beats a minute – more than twice the normal rate.

Three days before Christmas 2011, she underwent a nine-hour operation and spent the next nine months being care for at Addenbrooke’s and Great Ormond Street hospitals.

And, just before her first birthday, she was sent back to her home in Colchester from hospital to spend some quality time with her family with doctors saying she wouldn’t live longer than a few weeks.

It’s why her mother Fay says “words can’t describe” how blessed she feels as her child approaches her tenth birthday.

Today, Gracie-Leigh still has a range of medical conditions.

She cannot walk unaided and is scheduled to undergo two more rounds of open heart surgery, having been operated on in 2019.

Yet, despite all the heart-breaking adversity she has known throughout her life, Gracie-Leigh is still sassy to her mum – she’s more than happy to speak her mind.

It has still been the toughest of years for the family as Covid plunged them into further uncertainty and kept the nine-year-old out of her support at Lexden Springs School in Colchester, away from her routine.

“Covid has been really hard,” Fay, 29, of Colchester, said.

“She hasn’t had access to her therapies because they were all in school and we’ve been shielding at home for a long time - it’s really taken its toll on her.

“There’s no words to describe how the past 18 months have been, hard doesn’t really cut it.

“I know we’re not the only family who have really felt the effects of it, but she hasn’t been able to have her appointments and all her routine has been delayed.”

Despite all the uncertainty in the world, Gracie-Leigh has still continued to crack on, like she has done for nearly a decade now.

“She’s getting on really well still, health-wise,” Fay added.

“From a cardiac point of view, the doctors don’t want to see her as much anymore because of how well she is progressing.

“She’s able to walk aided for short periods of time too, which has been amazing.

“Her cardiac issues certainly aren’t going anywhere, but she’s doing really, really well.”

Fay added: “I live in awe of her; her strength, her resilience.

“Gracie-Leigh is the bravest girl, she’s happy, cheeky, sassy – all the things you’d expect from a girl who’s nearly ten.

“She brings joy to everyone she meets and loves to be out and about seeing people, she’s a total social butterfly.

“I’ve always just had full trust in her since she was little that she would show me if she couldn’t do something.

“I stopped trusting what the doctors were predicting and started trusting her.

“She’s done nothing but prove everybody wrong. When doctors see her now, they genuinely cannot believe she’s still here and is the way she is.

“Words can’t begin to describe how blessed we are.”