THE parents of a four-year-old girl from York who underwent life-saving heart surgery have set themselves a 100-mile running challenge to raise money for charity.

Scarlet Hearson was only 22 months old when she underwent open heart surgery to correct an extra chamber in her heart as well as a hole. The condition had initially been blamed on teething by her parents.

Scarlet’s mother, Vicky, 35, of Scarcroft Road, said: “She had really red cheeks and she wasn’t eating very well and we thought it was teething. We took her to a GP, but he saw a lot more, such as a heart murmur.

“We were told she had to have heart surgery pretty quickly, otherwise it would lead to heart failure.

“Five days later she was admitted and she had her surgery.”

The complicated procedure was carried out at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and Vicky said within a few weeks, Scarlet was back home and “wrestling” with her older sister, Lara.

Vicky and husband Chris are among a growing number of York parents to voice concerns over the possible closure of the children’s heart surgery service at LGI, as part of a major review by the NHS.

The process could see the lifesaving service moved to Newcastle, leaving parents with seriously ill children in our region facing much longer ambulance journey times.

“We were travelling backwards and forwards daily,” Vicky said. “We went to York first and then we had to travel to Leeds fairly quickly. If we had had to travel to Newcastle, it would have been awful. We were closer to our support network in Leeds.”

Now the couple have decided to show their gratitude for their daughter’s recovery by completing a gruelling set of running challenges over the coming months in aid of the British Heart Foundation.

The pair said they would run 100 miles each and have already completed their first major challenge – the 24-mile Swaledale Marathon.

“We are doing a second marathon and we are doing four 10K races,” said Vicky.

“We have already done two; the Newby Hall and Race For Life.”