Born with only half a heart, little Finn Corban shouldn’t be alive, let alone celebrating his first birthday.
In the 12 months since his birth, this brave toddler has survived six massive operations and two scary brushes with death – defying every medical prediction he was given. And he’s even been lucky enough to meet Prince William.
Finn’s extremely rare heart condition was picked up in a scan half way through the pregnancy and doctors suggested a termination to his parents Jennifer ocDermott (24) and Ben Corban (25).
“The scan showed he was missing the side of the heart that pumps blood to the lungs,” reveals Jennifer, with a smiling Finn on her knee. “We were advised it might be better not to continue with the pregnancy as his survival rate was low, and his quality of life wouldn’t be good because of all the surgeries he would need.”
It was a tough decision. The couple already had a son, oliver (now 2), and Jennifer could feel the unborn baby kicking. After much soul-searching, they decided to go ahead with the pregnancy, even though they knew the future looked bleak for their new baby.
It meant uprooting from their home in the Wairarapa to Auckland before the birth, so Finn could get specialist treatment as soon as he arrived. It was touch and go at the delivery with nobody knowing if the baby would survive. But he did, and at four days old he had his first open heart surgery to improve the blood supply through his lungs.
“Doctors discovered that his body was shutting down, and he needed the surgery urgently to give him any kind of a chance,” says Jennifer.
Finn then developed serious lung complications and was put on life support. His condition was so serious, doctors gave him just two weeks to live.
“He had a hole in his throat to help him breathe, as he had many failed attempts at breathing on his own,” explains Jennifer. “To everyone’s amazement, he survived and was soon taken off life support.”
Finn was able to transfer to Wellington Hospital to be closer to the family home. While there, Finn, oliver and Jennifer got to meet an important visitor to the children’s ward – Prince William – during his trip to New Zealand last year.
As Jennifer spoke to the prince, nursing both her children on her knees, Finn dropped his dummy and William picked it up and handed it back to the smiling baby. oliver was becoming restless by then and when he wriggled around, William told him, “Be good for oummy.”
“The incident made headlines around the world,” says Jennifer. “Newspapers wrote about how the prince charmed these toddlers from New Zealand.”
The glow from meeting William didn’t last long, as Finn became desperately unwell again – this time with a serious lung infection.
“He was given only hours to live but he made it through that as well,” says Jennifer. “Every time we are told Finn won’t live, he makes it through somehow.”
At the age of six months, little Finn was finally able to go home and last month he celebrated his first birthday.
“Now he’s just like any other baby and people find it hard to believe what he has been through,” says Jennifer.
Jennifer and Ben know that Finn’s heart is still very fragile and could stop beating at any time, but they are determined to give him as normal a life as possible.
“We don’t keep him wrapped up in cotton wool and since he’s been home, he does everything any other child of his age would do – even more sometimes,” smiles Jennifer.
Finn will need more heart surgery when he’s four and eventually, when he gets older, he will need a heart transplant.
In the meantime, every moment with Finn is seen as a gift by his loving family.
“He’s an amazing, cheeky little monkey,” says Jennifer. “He’s getting stronger every day and has proved everyone wrong.”
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