BRAVE little toddler Aiden Bloss is today looking forward to Christmas at home after battling against the odds to survive.The four-year-old, who was born with a heart condition, went in to hospital last month for major surgery but due to complications, suffered two heart attacks and a stroke in the two weeks following the operation.

BRAVE little toddler Aiden Bloss is today looking forward to Christmas at home after battling against the odds to survive.

The four-year-old, who was born with a heart condition, went in to hospital last month for major surgery but due to complications, suffered two heart attacks and a stroke in the two weeks following the operation.

His chances of survival were slim, but miraculously he made a massive recovery and was discharged this week.

He is now enjoying being at home with his mum Emma Blower and her partner Nick Stacey.

Miss Blower, 22, from Laxfield, said: “He is better psychologically since he is at home. Whenever I feel a bit rubbish now, I just think about how he must feel and what he has gone through.

“Every day is precious now.”

Doctors decided to perform two operations at the same time, so he remained in theatre for more than nine hours. He underwent both a Rastelli procedure, which involved closing a hole in his heart, redirecting one of the vessels and creating a new valve and vessel, and an arterial switch, where the main arteries were moved.

Although the operation was a success, the prolonged bypass put such a strain on his small heart that in the subsequent days, he had two cardiac arrests and a stroke, and had to be put on a life support machine for ten days.

The stroke caused him to be paralysed on his left side, and although he has recovered considerably, he still cannot walk as his leg is too weak.

At one point, as staff frantically tried to get tubes down his throat to save him, some nerves in his throat got damaged, and as a result he can only speak in a whisper now.

His grandmother, Teresa Blower, said: “We lost him twice.

“One of those times was for half an hour.

“He still remembers it all and has been crying about it. It has been very traumatic for him but at least he is talking about it.

“He said the doctors and nurses were all shouting at him but he was trying to go to sleep.

“It is a total miracle that he has survived. It has been a living nightmare.”

His mum, Miss Blower added: “They cannot guarantee he will walk again but the fact that he has improved so much already is hopeful.

“He is trying to deal with the trauma of it all, as well as not being able to walk or talk properly.

“I didn't think we were ever going to have him with us again so it is amazing he is here.”

It was hoped that this would be the last operation needed for several years and Miss Blowers is crossing her fingers that that will still be the case.

Have you survived something against all odds? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.