The parents of a baby with an incurable condition are hoping to raise tens of thousands of pounds to pay for treatment abroad.
Gina and David Scanlan’s 14-week-old daughter Willow was born with Edwards’ syndrome, a condition affecting chromosomes which can cause disabilities.
Prior to her birth, her parents, who live near Fyvie, were told she had a hole in her heart which would require surgery.
But after finding out their daughter had Edwards’ syndrome, the Scanlans were informed it was not “usual clinical practice” for medical teams in the UK to operate on youngsters with it.
The family is now striving to raise £50,000 to pay for Willow to be treated abroad if she cannot receive the operation at home.
Mr Scanlan said: “We are waiting for a final decision from the cardiologists so we can be absolutely certain they are saying no.
“We are also going to look for a referral to NHS England, but the UK position on this [to refuse the surgery] has been made clear.”
Willow’s parents have identified a number of centres across the US and Europe who may be willing to operate on her.
Later this week, she will be given an echocardiogram, which will map out her heart.
The Scanlans will then send this to specialists across the world, hoping that at least one will be willing to take up the case.
Mr Scanlan added: “As these things can take a while, it could be a period of time which Willow might not have. So we are looking for somewhere else.
“If Willow was a normal baby and didn’t have Edwards’ syndrome, we would just be sitting back, safe in the knowledge that any change would be detected.
“But we don’t know when Willow’s condition is going to change, and we don’t at present have a team in place to perform the operation.
“Instead of just preparing for planned heart surgery and getting our family and ourselves ready, we are running about trying to find alternatives.”
Relatives of the Scanlans have launched an online campaign, #savewillow, to raise money.
Donations can be made at
justgiving.com/crowdfunding/janet-bonar-2
