How three knitted hearts have helped a mother grieve

After Lisa Coleman’s son Lennie died at two weeks old, the mementoes proved priceless’,

- Bryony Gooch

When Lisa Coleman looks at the tiny knitted hearts she keeps on her dressing room table, she will always treasure the cherished memory of her baby son’s short life.

The 36-year-old and her husband Matt, 35, found out that she was pregnant with twin boys in August 2023, and the couple from Dunmow, Essex, were in total shock – but decided to embrace their surprise as an adventure. However, nothing could have prepared them for what they learned next.

When they were referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and given a cardiac screening after a 20-week routine scan, they discovered their son Lennie had “rewritten the textbook” when it came to his heart. “It was the complete opposite of what it should be,” Lisa told The Independent. The moment she heard he had a rare and complicated diagnosis of a severe hole in his heart, she said her world came crashing down.

The couple were told that Lennie would never have a full heart if her pregnancy made it to full term, but he could have surgery to give him half a heart. Then, once he turned 18, he would be eligible for a heart transplant. Doctors were concerned that if Lennie had any further complications or died during pregnancy, then his brother Ronnie could be at risk too.

“We were offered selective termination, but that posed a massive risk to Ronnie as well,” she said. “It just didn’t feel right to end Lennie’s life like that either.”

They decided to progress with the pregnancy, with fortnightly scans at University College London Hospital, which works closely with GOSH at the foetal stage. “The most amazing thing was, we both felt like Lennie was giving us signs to sort of know what the right thing to do was,” Lisa said.