LITTLE Tommy McKellar only lived for 11 days. He appeared fit and well when he was born at York Hospital on January 22, 2015. But he had an undiagnosed heart condition in which his arteries were connected to the wrong parts of his heart. His mum Natasha Pye raised the alarm when she noticed he had cold feet, his lips were blue and he was always short of breath.

Health professionals insisted nothing was wrong.

But on February 2 he stopped breathing. Paramedics were unable to save him, and a subsequent post-mortem exam revealed he had a heart defect called Transposition of the Great Arteries, or TGA.

Tragically, it is a condition that, if picked up on in time, can be corrected with surgery. The operation has a 99 per cent success rate. Tommy’s parents therefore have to live with the knowledge that their little boy’s life could have been saved.

“He could be alive today,” said Natasha. “I can never explain to somebody the pain of losing your baby. It’s a pain nobody wants to ever imagine or feel.”

Charity Tiny Tickers is now campaigning for every baby in the country to be given a special test called pulse oximetry soon after birth. The test can identify heart defects quickly and effectively.

The charity - which has named its campaign ‘Test for Tommy’ in Tommy’s memory - estimates that 330 testing machines would be enough to supply every maternity unit in the country, at a total cost of just under £240,000. That is peanuts, surely, in the context of NHS spending.

Tommy’s little brother Albie, who was born last month, has already been given - and has passed - the test. We look forward to the day when every British baby can be tested. It won’t bring Tommy back. But it will be a fitting legacy for a little boy who never got the chance in life that he deserved.