A baby who suffered serious complications following a heart operation has made a miraculous recovery after he was 'frozen' for four days.Finley Burton was just 16-weeks-old when he underwent an operation to repair a large hole in his heart. After the surgery he developed a potentially fatal erratic heart beat.
Medics put Finley on an external pacemaker and cooled his body down to 33.4c to try and stabilise his heart rate and protect his major organs. Normally, a baby's temperature is around 37c.
They also sedated the youngster and placed him in a state of paralysis for four days to stop him shivering as this could disrupt the pacemaker.
His mother council worker Donna Link-Emery and her partner Aaron Burton, a support worker, braced themselves for the worst.
But after four days they were informed the unorthodox treatment had been a success.
Donna Link-Emery cuddles her son Finley Burton after his amazing recovery from a heart operation.
Ms Link-Emery, 27, said: 'It was very frightening. We thought we were going to lose him. His heart was beating really quickly and we prayed he would survive.
'They put him in a little bag which allowed air to flow around his body and he was kept like that for four days.
'Then he was gradually weaned out of his paralysis and his temperature was brought back to normal.
'Amazingly the freezing process seemed to work and after four days his heart started to maintain a normal rhythm again.'
Donna and her 31-year-old partner had taken Finley to the doctor when he was 10 weeks old because he was not putting on much weight and had breathing difficulties.The little baby was referred to the University Hospital of North Durham.
'I had a normal pregnancy and nothing was picked up on any of my scans so I was expecting it to be a routine visit,' said Donna.
But the consultant listened to Finley's heart and thought he could hear a murmur so sent him for an echo cardiogram, an ECG and an X ray.
They discovered he had a large hole at the top of his heart and a small one at the bottom.
The next day Finley was transferred to Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, where they also found he had an aortic coarctation - a narrowing of the hearts main artery. He was given emergency surgery the following day.
Heart defects explained
Congenital heart disease is a general term used to refer to a group of 30 different types of heart defects that are present at birth. The condition affects six out of every 1,000 births in the UK. Common symptoms include breathlessness, fainting and fatigue.
Half of all babies born with congenital heart disease will require immediate surgery after birth, while the other 50% tend to require surgery or medication at some point during their childhood.
Finley had two operations to block the larger hole and correct the artery, but when he came round his heart went into junctional ectopic tachycardia and doctors 'froze' him to save his life.
'It was all so sudden and upsetting. Nothing at all prepares you for seeing your baby in hospital like that. I just cried,' Donna said.
Thankfully after 12 days in hospital Finley was allowed to go home and is now recovering well, with check-ups every eight weeks.
'We were told he may have to be in hospital for six weeks so we were stunned when they said he could leave so quickly,' said Donna.
'Now he's doing really well and has already put on lots of weight.'
Asif Hasan, the surgeon who operated on Finley, said: 'After heart surgery the heart rate often goes up because of the stress of the operation. You have to cool patients down to get a normal heart rate again.
'Finley had a big operation for such a small baby and we're really pleased with how well he did.'
Finley's family is raising money for Freeman Hospital's Children's Heart United Fund. Anyone wishing to donate to the fund can visit
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