A Hendy family whose daughter had heart surgery at six months old are Wales’ nominee for a UK-wide award, and the winner will be picked by public vote.
Esme Mariani, five, and her parents Emily and Mathew have been named the British Heart Foundation’s Outstanding Contribution winners for Wales.
They are one of four nominees for the charity’s People’s Choice Award, representing Wales alongside nominees from England, Scotland and Wales. The winner will be announced at its Heart Hero Awards on 24 November.
Voting is open on the BHF website until midnight on 23 November.
Esme’s AVSD: the heart condition found when she was 10 days old
Esme was born on New Year’s Day with a hole in her heart. The condition, an atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD), also left her with one valve between the upper and lower chambers instead of two.
Her parents had no idea anything was wrong until she was 10 days old. A Sunday morning call to 111 sent them to an out-of-hours doctor, who suspected an infection.
Emily said: “We were devastated. I was still healing myself and I just broke down.”
She and Mathew were both “perfectly healthy, so it was a complete shock”, she said.
The family spent the next three weeks between hospitals in Cardiff and Swansea, with Covid rules allowing only one parent on the ward at a time.
They learned to tube-feed Esme at home, and how to give a baby CPR. At six months old, she had surgery at Bristol Children’s Hospital, carried out by BHF-funded Professor Massimo Caputo.
By the time she was discharged, she no longer needed tube feeding.
London Marathon, Cardiff Half and £19,000 for the British Heart Foundation
The family have now raised more than £19,000 for the charity. They were at £15,000 when Esme’s red bench was unveiled on Swansea Beach in April.
That bench is one of 65 the BHF has put up across the UK, to mark 65 years since it began funding heart research.
Days after the unveiling, Mathew ran the London Marathon in just over three hours.
Emily followed him this month, running the Cardiff Half Marathon.
Mathew said running was a way to raise awareness as well as money. “If people see me running the London Marathon for the British Heart Foundation and it makes them stop, think, or start a conversation, then that in itself is incredibly important to me,” he said.
‘Truly deserving’: BHF Cymru on Esme’s family
Emily said the family were “very proud” to have been chosen, and that “it means a lot for our effort to be recognised by BHF Cymru”.
Rhodri Thomas, head of BHF Cymru, said the charity had followed Esme’s journey “for a number of years now”. He called the family “truly deserving” of the award.
Before the result comes in, there is a wedding. Emily and Mathew are off to Las Vegas to get married.
Emily said: “Our experience has taught us to cherish every moment, so we really do our best to fill our time with adventures.”
Esme will need more operations as she grows up, and Emily says that is “what drives us”.
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