Baby survives after being born with heart outside her body

3-week-old Vanellope Hope Wilkins, who was born with her heart outside her body and survived surgery at Glenfield Hospital, in what is believed to be a UK first.

Vanellope Hope Wilkins, now three weeks old, was delivered by a team of 50 medical professionals at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, UK, on November 22.

Born with ectopia cordis, a rare congenital condition causing her heart to grow outside her body,

the baby girl underwent three intensive surgeries to put her heart inside her chest. She is now on the road to recovery.

"I had prepared myself for the worst; that was my way of dealing with it.

I had brought an outfit to hospital that she could wear if she died," said Naomi Findlay, Vanellope's mother, in a statement on Tuesday.

"I genuinely didn't think my baby would survive, but the staff at Glenfield have been amazing."

"I deal with babies with heart problems all the time, some of them very complicated," said Dr. Frances Bu'Lock, consultant in pediatric cardiology at Glenfield Hospital.

"This is only the second case in 30 years that I've seen this particular condition, it's extremely rare," she said. "Vanellope is the first baby to survive this operation in the UK."

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