When Alba Butler was born, she didn’t cry or turn rosy like most infants. She arrived a deep shade of blue, struggling for oxygen, already fighting for her life just moments after birth. At only a few hours old, she was rushed into an operating room while her mother watched helplessly, still waiting for her first real chance to hold her daughter.
Alba had come into the world with transposition of the great arteries (TGA), a rare and dangerous heart defect in which the two major arteries leaving the heart are switched. Instead of pumping oxygenated blood through the body, her heart was sending it back into the lungs, starving her organs of the oxygen they needed. Without immediate medical intervention, the condition is almost always fatal.
For her parents, Alejandra Garcia and Danny Butler of Thornton, Lancashire, the diagnosis crushed a happiness they had waited years to experience. Doctors had once told them that natural conception was nearly impossible. They were preparing for IVF treatments when, to their astonishment, Alejandra learned she was expecting in May 2017.
“It didn’t feel real,” Alejandra said later. “After being told I wouldn’t get pregnant, finding out I was expecting felt unbelievable — like a gift.”
But that excitement was short-lived. At the 20-week scan, specialists discovered a major heart defect. Neither parent had heard of TGA, and the fear was immediate. Alejandra remembers breaking down, unable to calm her racing thoughts.
“I thought we might have to end the pregnancy,” she admitted. “It felt like the ground disappeared beneath us.”
Throughout the rest of the pregnancy, Alejandra underwent numerous scans. Doctors confirmed that Alba did not have a ventricular septal defect — a hole between the heart chambers that can sometimes let oxygenated and deoxygenated blood mix. Without that opening, Alba’s body would receive almost no oxygen after birth.
On November 15, 2017, Alba was delivered by planned caesarean section at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Instead of being placed in her mother’s arms, she was immediately moved into an ambulance and transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Alejandra wasn’t allowed to hold her newborn — only brush her finger against Alba’s tiny hand before she was taken away.
“She was completely blue,” Alejandra recalled. “They told us some babies don’t make it through the first surgery. I couldn’t believe this was our story.”
Within hours of being born, Alba underwent a balloon septostomy, a procedure that opened a hole in her heart to allow her blood to mix and carry at least some oxygen to her organs. Alejandra wasn’t able to properly see her daughter until nearly 39 hours later.
Eight days after that, Alba faced the surgery that would determine her future. Surgeons prepared for a nine-hour open-heart operation to correct the defect once and for all.
“No baby should need a hospital gown,” Alejandra said. “Seeing that tiny gown shattered me. Walking behind the medical team as they wheeled her to theatre, I feared it might be the last time I saw her alive.”
When the phone call finally came telling them that the surgery had succeeded, Alejandra sprinted down the corridor, desperate to reach her daughter.
Even then, doctors urged caution. They warned that Alba might not make it to her first birthday. And if she did, she could face developmental challenges, more surgeries, and frequent hospitalisations.
But Alba didn’t match the predictions.
In the months following surgery, she battled serious complications — including chylothorax, a dangerous accumulation of fluid, and pneumonia. Each setback meant more uncertainty and more time in the hospital. Each time, Alba fought her way back.
She grew stronger when no one expected her to.
This year, Alba turned one — a milestone her parents once thought they might never witness. She is hitting her developmental milestones, thriving at home, and filling her parents’ lives with joy and noise.
“When we first heard her diagnosis, we braced ourselves for the worst,” Alejandra said. “But she’s surpassed every expectation. She’s fierce. She’s my hero.”
Even everyday moments feel special now. When Alba recently received her flu shot, she hardly reacted. Her mother watched in amazement. “She stared at the nurse like she’d experienced worse,” Alejandra said.
Alejandra’s gratitude for the medical team at Alder Hey runs deep. She credits them with saving not only Alba’s life, but her own emotional strength.
“They feel more like family than staff,” she said. “They even sent her a first birthday gift. I cried so much.”
To show her appreciation, Alejandra plans to hike the Inca Trail next year to raise money for the hospital that changed their lives.
“I don’t just owe them Alba’s life,” she said. “I feel like they saved mine too.”
Alba Butler was born with her heart’s major arteries reversed. Her chances of survival were just fifty percent. She underwent surgery when most babies are still opening their eyes for the first time.
Today, she stands as a reminder that miracles often come from skilled hands, deep love, and a tiny child’s determination to live — even with a heart that began its journey backwards.