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A 14-day-old baby in need of a heart transplant has made history as the smallest and youngest ever to be given a ‘Berlin’ heart to keep her alive.

Tiny Tiarna Middleton is suffering from congenital heart disease and had to be fitted with the device.

It took a team of surgeons nine hours to perform the delicate operation at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, which is one of the leading heart units in the country.

Consultant cardiology surgeon Massimo Griselli led the pain-staking procedure to connect it to Tiarna’s own chestnut-sized heart.

It will effectively act as a second heart and buys her vital time as parents Sharney Gray, 22, and Gary Middleton, 25, from Rowlands Gill, in Gateshead, face an agonising wait for a donor to be found.

Surgeon Massimo, 45, had to overcome a series of complications, including Tiarna’s cardiac arrest, during the operation.

“The Berlin device will offer her long-term support but there were complications because she is such a small baby,” he said.

“Although she is improving, she is in the intensive care unit and is not yet fully stable. We had to leave her chest open and will close it in the next 24-48 hours once she is stronger.

“She is both the youngest and the smallest ever in terms of weight to have a Berlin heart device fitted.

“We had to overcome many problems. She arrested, and a few hours later we had to put her on the ECMO machine again to assist her breathing.

“She has not been very well overnight and she’s still a long way away from being as stable as we would like.

“She does not have coronary arteries and was relying on a tiny vessel in her right ventricle.

“This has bought us time for a donor and only that will allow her a long term future.”

Colleague Dr Richard Kirk said it was difficult to find a heart donor for tiny babies.

He said: “Infants younger than two months in this country are not allowed to be donors, though we hope that may soon change.

“So the organs needed tend to come from abroad. We only have four to five hours to get them to the UK for them to remain viable for transplant .

“That means we are limited to Europe in the search. We allowed to use a tiny French baby’s heart but not one from this country.”

Born on May 22 at the Freeman, Tiarna was initially kept alive by specialist machines. The operation to fit the Berlin heart was carried out on Tuesday.

Jacki Newby, northern team manager for Organ Donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said many more people were needed for the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Join the organ donor register online by going to organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 or text SAVE to 62323.