WITH a cherubic smile, bouncing curls and energy to spare, nobody would guess that Hudson Manning, 3, was quietly suffering from a heart condition that threatened to claim his life before he could reach his fourth birthday.
Mum Alicia Manning said it was only by fortunate coincidence that doctors got their first clue that something may be wrong, when she took him for an appointment for bronchitis.
The doctor listened to his chest and said there could be a murmur, but it was ''probably innocent'', and to bring the then toddler back in a few days if he hadn't recovered.
Mrs Manning returned a few days later and another doctor examined Hudson for bronchitis. When the concerned mum asked about the murmur, the doctor listened again and confirmed the sound.
Soon after, Hudson and the Manning family embarked on a long road of seeing specialists, having tests and treatment for a murmur that was anything but innocent. ''What I always tell people who are new parents now is ask the doctors to listen to their heart and don't assume that if they are listening to the chest they are listening to the heart,'' Mrs Manning said.
Organisation HeartKids, which has adopted February as its awareness month, said six babies were born every day with heart disease in Australia. Chief executive Alan Bowden said childhood heart disease was ''still off the radar for much of the population'' even though it was the biggest killer of children under the age of one.
Mrs Manning said the support of HeartKids was invaluable to families. She said that while Hudson was receiving treatment he received a string of heart beads (pictured), which marked occasions from his diagnosis at age two, to procedures and even the really bad days.
''It's an easy way to put things into perspective,'' Mrs Manning said.
See heartkids.org.au
.gif)
