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When a child was diagnosed with a serious heart condition in the 1940s, all doctors could tell parents was to treasure the time they had with their baby.

But when an American doctor offered a Liverpool mum a fighting chance for her sick daughter - with the risk she could die on the operating table - she suddenly had a choice.

She took the risk - and, this week, Mary Daniel celebrated her 80th birthday.

Mary, who lives in Birkenhead, said she will remember the day of her operation, on April 27, 1949, “for all her life”.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

She said: “My mum cried all the way on the train up to Myrtle Street Children’s Hospital. I didn’t expect to see her again but I just knew I had to have this operation.

“I remember the night before, being on the ward and there was a roller rink outside that had music on.

“I wondered to myself: ‘Will I ever hear music again?’- I didn’t think I would wake up from the operation.

“There was a boy in the bed next to me and he wouldn’t survive what he had, I often think about him."

(Image: Handout)

In 1949, heart surgery was a dangerous procedure with a high risk of brain damage, as the heart had to be stopped and the blood-oxygen supply cut.

Unlike today, there was no machinery to keep the heart beating and, in some cases, patients were put in ice-cold baths to slow their metabolisms sufficiently to allow enough time for work on the heart to be completed.

Mary had been diagnosed with a heart murmur at five years old by her school doctor, which would later be diagnosed as a leak in the heart called Paten Ductus Arteriosus.

Her mum Agnes had been told there was no treatment and her daughter would not see past her 17th birthday.

(Image: Handout)

She added: “At school, they would tell me to take it easy and used to stop me doing certain things - but I didn’t really understand why, because I never felt ill.

“In those days, children were dying all around me from tuberculosis and polio - so I was just seen as another ill child.”

When an American surgeon offered Agnes the chance to put her then eleven-year-old daughter forward, to trial a new heart surgery, Mary said it was very hard for her mum.

She said: “My mum had to bear the brunt of the decision. She was a widow after my dad died in the war, while she was pregnant with my brother.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

“She spoke to my granny who told my mum to ‘leave it to god’.

“She went to a lot of doctors for advice. One actually said to her: ‘I am glad it’s not my daughter’”.

Mary was put under anaesthetic and doctors made an incision in her back which required 25 stitches - a scar she still has. She also had ribs removed for the procedure to be performed.

But it was a success and, instead of her life coming to an end at 17, as doctors feared, Mary has gone on to live a happy and healthy life and had four children - Janice, Kenneth, Tristan and Anna.

She said: “I remember my hospital bed was covered in grapes and sweets and the Americans sent me toys to celebrate the operation's success. My mum was delighted. It was quite a miracle.

“I have never been ill, it is quite surprising really. I will always be grateful to my mum for her bravery and I do feel very lucky.”

Mary's daughter Janice is now raising money for the British Heart Foundation - you can find out more here.