A heartbroken mum has spoken about watching her newborn daughter dying in front of her in hospital.
Natasha Brown, from Bootle, gave birth to her daughter Maddison Mae Powell on September 19 last year, but when she was just 16 weeks pregnant she had been told something wasn't right. After a number of scans and tests, she was told at 20 weeks pregnant that her daughter wouldn't survive the birth.
The 30-year-old carer told the ECHO: "I was told Maddison had a heart condition when I was 16 weeks pregnant but they didn't tell me how bad it was until I was 20 weeks in. They told us she wouldn't survive birth but she pulled through.
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"I gave birth to her on September 19, my birthday, at half six in the morning and by 10am we were in Alder Hey. They gave us two options when we got there. We were asked if we wanted to withdraw medication and let her die or let her have open-heart surgery.
"It was the worst decision I've ever had to make in my life. She died because of the operation but if she hadn't had the operation she would have died anyway."
Maddison was alive for just 15 days, with the newborn going into surgery on September 28 and being placed in a coma before dying in hospital on October 3 of critical congenital heart disease (CCHD), a group of serious heart conditions. Natasha, mum to Rylee, five, and Nevaeh, four, added: "It was traumatising.
"I will never be able to unsee my baby dying in front of me. I will never forget seeing her in a coma or when she faded away. She was perfect in every way other than her heart. Her heart was the only thing wrong with her."
Months after the death of Maddison, Natasha, along with her friends and family, are raising money to have a headstone made and a memorial garden put together to remember the newborn. She said: "I'm struggling.
"I couldn't afford her funeral at the time but my friends and family helped raise money for it. I'm trying to give her the best memorial garden we can. It's a hell of a lot of money to find when you don't have that kind of money.
"We are doing our best to honour her. Nothing will bring her back. We will never get over this as a family."
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