A bubbly toddler is getting ready to take part in a three kilometre jog - less than 14 months after surviving major heart surgery.

Sophie Gittus, of Upper Poppleton, near York, is lucky to be alive after being born with three different heart defects.

At one week old she had a five-hour operation at Leeds General Infirmary to correct two of the problems, but is waiting for an operation to fix the third.

To raise money for the British Heart Foundation, Sophie's parents, Kathryn and John, will push their daughter around the York City Jog this April.

John, 29, a farmer, said: "If it wasn't for the British Heart Foundation, Leeds Hospital wouldn't have had all the equipment it needed to diagnose Sophie's condition.

"Raising money for the charity is a way we can say thank you to everybody at the hospital - they saved our daughter's life.

"When you look at her now, you just wouldn't believe what she'd been through. From being something that never moved on a hospital bed to being a little girl who literally never stops, it's incredible."

It was Kathryn's 21-week pregnancy scan that revealed the problems with Sophie's heart.

Kathryn, 27, said: "I was in an absolute state after the scan. I think it's one of the worst things you can be told - that your baby has heart problems.

"We were told she would have to have an operation to save her life as soon as she was born and I had a planned caesarean a week before she was due to make sure she was in the right place at the right time."

John said: "After she was born, they took Sophie straight up to the heart ward to be monitored. We weren't able to give her a cuddle or anything.

"We knew there was a risk with the operation, but without it she would never have been able to leave hospital."

Kathryn said: "I was crying when she went in. The surgeons said it was a very difficult operation because she had such a lot of things wrong with her heart. We knew there was a chance she might not make it."

But Sophie survived and within a week of the operation, she was well enough to leave hospital.

Kathryn said: "It was a terrible two weeks, but we got through them and a year on, Sophie's doing brilliantly. She's going to need another operation in the next year and another one in her late teens, but there's every chance she will lead a completely normal life."

It will be the second year the Gittus family have taken part in the York City Jog, which will be held this year on April 15, at Knavesmire, in York.

Last year, Kathryn walked the course holding three-month-old Sophie, while John ran the race - coming first.

For more information about how to take part, log on to www.bhf.org.uk/york or phone 0800 9176976.


Heart problems

Sophie suffered from the following conditions:* Coarctation - a narrowing of the blood vessels* Mitral stenosis - narrowing of the valve to the heart's left pumping chamber* Aortic Stenosis - narrowing of the aortic valve.