NOTHING could be done to save their precious daughter, but they are doing all they can to ensure the hearts of other seriously ill babies in Hampshire are kept beating.

The Lahna Fund has donated a massive £10,000 to the Daily Echo campaign to pay for a life-saving piece of equipment for Southampton General Hospital’s children’s heart unit.

The Daily Echo launched the campaign to help the British Heart Foundation raise the £49,000 needed to buy the state-of-the-art portable echo machine, which for critically ill youngsters could mean the difference between life and death.

Now the Lahna Fund, set up by the parents of five-month-old Lahna Beatty, who died after contracting two viruses, has stepped in to help make that dream take one step closer to becoming reality.

As previously reported, the new portable echo machine is vital in the fight to save the lives of babies born with heart defects and children facing extensive surgery.

Currently, the team on the children’s heart unit have four bulky echo machines which are difficult to move from ward to ward, need a lot of space and need to be plugged into the mains power supply, which takes vital minutes to boost up during an emergency situation.

They are also impossible to take to other regional units, where babies may have been born with severe heart defects and need an ultra scan of their heart to allow doctors to diagnose the exact problem.

Currently, in these situations, youngsters have to be transferred to Southampton, and medical teams must wait until the patient is stable enough to be moved, as every transfer comes with its risks.

But all of this can be a thing of the past if the appeal can raise £49,000 for the portable CX50 machine, which is about the size of a laptop and can be taken quickly to a patient’s bedside, wherever they are.

The quicker a scan can be taken, the quicker a diagnosis can be made, which means the patient can get the treatment they need faster than ever before.

Knowing how important the machine can be, Lahna’s mum and dad, Natasha and Lance, have thrown their backing behind the campaign and donated £10,000 from Lahna’s fund.

Natasha said: “The team on E1 do amazing work, day in, day out, saving the lives of so many babies and we are just so grateful that we can help towards those lives being saved with this donation.

“Although Lahna never made it to the ward, she died from a viral infection of the heart muscle, so this unit has always been very dear to us.

“Since Lahna’s death they have been so supportive when I have been pregnant with our other two children, offering us reassurance, so we really wanted to help with this appeal.”

Daily Echo:

Lahna Beatty

They are also hosting a bag packing event at Asda, in Totton, on May 16, to raise more funds for the campaign.

Anyone interested in helping out for the day can email Natasha at lahna@tiscali.co.uk.

How to donate

THERE are many way to support this appeal and ensure poorly youngsters in Hampshire get the very best life-saving care they need.

  •  To make a donation by phone call 0121 6615100.
  •  To donate online visit justgiving.com/BHF-Southampton-Childrens-Heart-Appeal.
  •  To host your own fundraising event call Neil Jarrett on 01202 478345 or email jarrettn@bhf.org.uk.