Baby born with half a heart shows wonder progress with swimming therapy

A baby, who was born with half a heart and whose doctors gave him a very slim chance of survival, has stunned everyone by going from strength to strength after undergoing pool therapy.

Charlie Cobb underwent open heart surgery just hours after he took born and surgeons had warned his parents that he may not survive things looked even more grim when he had a heart attack after the procedure, and underwent two further operations and was rushed into hospital several times to fight off infections.

But the baby survived and went from strength to strength - after his mother Louise Bushby took him swimming.

The 26-year-old nursery aide said that her child seems to thrive in the water.

She said that she believes that swimming has helped him much with his recovery and they go every week.

Bushby said that when her child is running around he gets breathless, but not when he is in the pool.

She and her partner Dan Cobb, 28, were told 20 weeks into her pregnancy that their child had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare congenital heart defect in which the left ventricle is unable to pump blood.

Bushby said that her child is 17 months now and is walking, talking, running around and swimming.