Paul O'Grady's Little Heroes: Episode four

In this episode, Paul meets four-year-old Esme, who spent 11 months at GOSH in need of a heart transplant after being diagnosed with a serious heart condition. At GOSH, Esme has had a number of operations, and was in surgery for 28 hours over a two-week period. 

Paul also meets, Alex (11 months), who was only a few weeks old when admitted to GOSH and a few months old when he had surgery. Paul chats to Alex’s mum and dad, Caroline and Thomas, in the Morgan Stanley Garden about Alex’s surgery to be fitted with cochlear implants.

Finally, Paul catches up with 13-year-old, Amelie, who has juvenile idiopathic arthritis - a rare disease that causes her joints to swell and stiffen.

When Esme was two years old, doctors confirmed that she would need a heart transplant. She later developed pneumonia, and was in and out of hospital. It was established that because her heart was so large, it was collapsing her left lung.

It was at this point that Esme came to GOSH to be assessed.

Read Esme's story

Ten-month-old Alex from St Albans failed his new born hearing test and was diagnosed as profoundly deaf when he was just two weeks old. Alex was quickly referred to GOSH to discuss the option of having cochlear implant surgery to help him hear.

Visit the charity site to read Alex's story and find out how the charity supports the hospital

“I always wanted to work at GOSH because it’s world renowned for being a paediatric cardiac centre in Europe.” Caitlin talks to us about caring for Esme and working on Bear Ward.

Visit the charity site to read Caitlin's story and find out how the charity supports the hospital