Baby whose parents feared had just days to live is 'thriving' after life-saving heart operation

A baby, whose parents feared had just days to live, is "thriving" after having life-saving operations on his heart.

Macs Green, a previously "completely healthy baby" suffered two cardiac arrests and was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy - which can lead to heart failure.

After a struggle to find suitable hospital beds, he has now had device called a Berlin Heart fitted, which takes over the function of his heart.

But he still needs a transplant and doctors have told his parents Catrin and Dylan they do not know how long the wait will be before he gets one.

But, after his operation in Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, Dylan said Macs was already "completely different" from how he was before.

Before surgery he had been in a specialist unit in Bristol Royal Children's Hospital on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (Ecmo) machine, which helped pump oxygenated blood around his body.

Town planner Dylan, 35, told Newyddion S4C: "There was talk of end of life at that point. We're so pleased he's on the Berlin Heart.

"It means he can come off the drugs which have been sedating him. Since then, he's a completely different baby.

"He's smiling, he's responding to us. Before now, he's just been a small baby lying on a bed."

Solicitor Catrin said, since the operation, it was like "having our baby back" for the couple, who have two other children, Caio, five, and Gruff, and that Macs had been "absolutely thriving"

After multiple surgeries, Macs' Berlin Heart was fitted on 7 August after leaving Bristol for Newcastle.

A Berlin Heart is a type of ventricular assist device - an air-driven pump that sits outside the body and takes over the job of the heart by pumping blood around the body.

The NHS Blood and Transplant team said 17 of these had been fitted in children across the UK in 2024-25.

Catrin, 32, said the family, from Cardiff, were now waiting for a real heart for Macs.

"They've told us... he's likely to have to wait 18 months for a heart. It could be two years, it could be more than that.

"But a heart could also turn up tomorrow.

"If we knew we were just waiting and living in a hospital that would be fine, but there are a lot of potential risks that come with being on a Berlin Heart and a lot of things which can affect him.

"We just hope now he can remain stable."

The family are now urging parents to consider organ donation should they lose a child and thanked the hospital staff and others who have supported them.

"We are extremely grateful," said Dylan.