Desperate family pleads for help to give little Ivanna back her childhood

"If we have not got Ivanna then we have not got anything" - the words of doting dad Jack Potts who is hoping to raise vital funds to enable his four-year-old daughter to get pioneering surgery in the USA which could prolong her life and give her back her childhood.

- by Neil Fatkin

Ivanna was born with a severe form of congenital heart disease called hypoplastic right heart and heterotaxy syndrome.

The condition means the right side of her heart is underdeveloped preventing it from functioning correctly and allowing Ivanna to do many of the things other little girls her age enjoy.

Jack, 28, who lives in Redhouse, said: "Ivanna currently only goes to school for about nine hours each week as it simply becomes to much for her. Her oxygen saturation levels are around 70-75%, far below the normal range of 95-100%, something which affects her every single day.

"Her lips can sometimes go blue and she often has to sit on the side during PE, unable to do what the other children are taking part in."

Since birth, Ivanna has come under the care of the NHS at North East hospitals and has already undergone major open-heart surgeries.