A ‘routine’ baby check-up suddenly became one couple’s ‘terrifying nightmare’ when medics discovered their newborn had a hole in his heart due to a rare defect.
Chloe Dover, 26, and her partner Hayden Wilson, 37, walked their ‘cheeky’ son Rio down to heart surgery at just four months old after the shock diagnosis.
They were told ‘not to worry’ when doctors found that ‘healthy’ baby Rio was born with a murmur because they are ‘quite common’ in newborns.
But after further tests, including CT scans, it was determined that their son had to undergo open heart surgery as he couldn’t breathe normally.
Rio was diagnosed with pulmonary stenosis, a rare type of congenital heart disease which affects around eight in every one thousand births in the UK.
He was born with a hole in his heart and one of the valves on his right ventricle was narrow, meaning blood wasn’t being pumped around his body properly.
Ms Dover and her partner, from Workington, Cumbria, described how it felt ‘like our whole world came crashing down’ the day they were told it was time to operate, not knowing whether the surgery would be a success. It was ‘traumatising’, she said.
However four hours later the surgeon delivered the miraculous news that ‘everything was fine’.
Chloe Dover, 26, (pictured) said it was ‘absolutely terrifying’ when medics told her Rio would need open heart surgery
Rio was diagnosed with pulmonary stenosis, which affects around eight in every one thousand births in the UK
Here Rio is pictured after undergoing heart surgery in July last year
After nine days in PICU Rio was discharged and he recovered with no complications. The 15-month-old is able to live a more normal life.
And his parents have now set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for The Sick Children’s Trust.
Ms Dover has now revealed the harrowing impact that the ordeal had on the couple despite her ‘incredibly smooth pregnancy’.
She told the Daily Mail: ‘It was absolutely terrifying because we didn’t have a clue about what was going on.
‘It was a whole new world learning about heart murmurs, the new terms and new words to do with Rio’s condition. It was heartbreaking.
‘We were in denial at first and we didn’t want to believe it. We were both in tears and in pure shock because he was a healthy, normal-looking baby.’
Mr Wilson added: ‘We were so worried because we were scared and felt so helpless.’
The couple, who also have two daughters, were concerned that Rio’s shock diagnosis was a result of something they had done wrong during Ms Dover’s pregnancy. She said she felt like she did something wrong and that it was ‘my fault’.
However, doctors were ‘very reassuring’ that there was ‘no way’ the couple could have done anything to prevent their newborn’s condition, Ms Dover said.
She added: ‘It was horrible because he was just a tiny baby. It was just awful.
Pictured: Rio and his father Hayden Wilson, 37, wearing matching Manchester United shirts
The toddler was born with a hole in his heart and one of the valves on his right ventricle was narrow, meaning blood wasn’t being pumped around his body properly
‘We went down to the operating theatre, put our gowns on and we had to wash Rio down with wipes. We were really upset, crying, and we were in shock.’
Mr Wilson said: ‘We cried on the way down to theatre because Rio’s operation kept getting cancelled so we had already been [getting ready for his operation].
‘The day before, it was cancelled at the last minute due to another patient needing emergency surgery.
‘We knew it was really happening this time so they took us into this room where we had to sign all these forms.
‘But as Rio’s dad, I was just too upset and I couldn’t send him into the operation room so Chloe took him down.
‘It was really upsetting because he didn’t have a clue what was going on. He was just smiling the whole time.’
Ms Dover added: ‘The signing of the forms was absolutely heartbreaking. It totally burst my denial bubble and I realised this was real life, and even on the way to surgery it still felt absolutely surreal.
‘If I could have swapped places, I would have in a heartbeat. I can only explain it as a total living nightmare.
Rio was just four months old when he underwent the ‘terrifying’ operation. Here he is pictured with his older sisters, Indie and Ella
Rio remained in PICU for nine days before being discharged and has since made a full recovery
‘I still remember the bright light in the operation room. Rio was in there for four hours so it was a long wait.
‘But when the surgeon rang us and said everything was fine we were so happy to see him. There were so many wires and tubes everywhere, it was horrible.
‘When we spoke to the surgeon after his surgery she couldn’t believe he hadn’t been seriously ill as his pulmonary valve was 6mm when it should have been 10mm.’
Rio remained in PICU for nine days before being discharged and has since made a full recovery.
Ms Dover said: ‘After surgery Rio was sedated for five days to allow him to recover and adjust to his new circulation.
‘We just sat next to him desperately waiting for him to wake up. We missed him so much.
‘When they lowered his sedation medication to wake him up gradually we played him the nursery rhymes he listened to at home to get him to wake up. He actually woke up while I was singing Hickory Dickory Dock to him.’
His parents were concerned that he may never live a normal life – but ‘he can now’.
Ms Dover described her son as ‘really cheeky and loving’, adding that ‘he just wants to make everyone laugh’
Mr Wilson said the ordeal was ‘really upsetting’ as Rio ‘didn’t have a clue what was going on’
Ms Dover said: ‘Rio is really cheeky and loving. He just wants to make everyone laugh.
‘He loves playing and when we found out we were having a boy, we thought he would be wild. But he’s so gentle.
‘He’s just a normal little boy. He’s at nursery now, he’s started walking and his surgery scar is healing by the week.’
Rio’s parents are now raising money for The Sick Children’s Trust, which provides families with ‘homes from home’ if they have children in hospital and need somewhere to stay. The charity had supported the couple when Rio was in hospital.
Ms Dover and Mr Wilson will run the AJ Bell Great North 10k in Newcastle on July 5, marking one year and one day since Rio’s life-saving heart surgery. They have so far raised more than £800.
Their GoFundMe page reads: ‘Everyone who knows Rio has often told us that you would never believe he has gone through such a traumatic first year of life.
‘He is thriving, strong, brave and so resilient and to try and put into words just how proud of him we are is impossible…
‘Myself and my partner Hayden have decided to run the Great North Run 10k on 5th July 2026 to mark our son Rio’s one-year surgery anniversary to raise money for The Sick Children’s Trust.
Rio’s parents have so far raised more than £800 towards The Sick Children’s Trust, a charity which supported the couple throughout the ordeal
‘This charity is incredibly close to our hearts as they run Scott House, which supports families like us with a sick child being treated in hospital by giving them a welcoming and supportive place to stay just minutes from their seriously ill child’s hospital bedside.
‘It costs £40 per night to support a family, with an overall average of a 15-night stay.’
Ms Dover told the Mail: ‘We chose The Sick Children’s Trust to pay them back for the time we stayed at Scott House.
‘It would have cost the charity around £480 for our 12-night stay at their ‘home from home’ and so far we have raised just under double.
It comes after a young mother raised £1.5million to fund her one-year-old’s complex heart surgery in California.
Jasmin Roberts, 24, was told her son, Ollie, ‘would be lucky to live until he was two’ after he was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart defect at two weeks old.
The 24-year-old became ‘completely inconsolable’ after the NHS said her son would be introduced to the palliative care team because hospitals in Britain lacked the expertise to perform the operation.
But after she raised the money and flew out to California with Ollie to have the life-saving surgery, she announced in January that the operation had been a ‘success’, saying that day had been the ‘longest and hardest of my life’.