JUST four hours after being born a baby was diagnosed with a rare congenital defect that left her parents ‘devastated’.

Beatrice Hadfield, from Cherry Tree, Blackburn, was found to have a trachea and oesophagus that were joined together.

The defect is called Tracheo Oesophageal Fistula and Oesophageal atresia.

It affects 1 in 4,000 babies and can cause major feeding and breathing problems, causing food to go to the lungs.

Now her mother Rachel wants to raise awareness about the condition.

She said: “The first night after having my baby was the worst. My husband Mark and I just didn’t know what to expect and we were so scared.”

Beatrice was transferred from The Royal Blackburn Hospital to Alder Hey Children’s hospital and had to undergo a six-hour operation when she was just three days old.

She was put into an induced coma to help her body cope with the effects of the operation.

But now the 15-month-old is on the road to recovery, eating some solid foods with an ‘acquired taste’ for pizza.

Because the condition didn’t show up on any of Rachel’s neonatal screenings, the diagnosis was hard to take in.

After Beatrice was brought home, the couple had to call an ambulance for their daughter on several occasions.

“When we got her home she would start to choke and turn blue because her oesophagus was closing up.”

Beatrice is still on medication and is in and out of hospital to have operations that involve putting a ‘balloon’ into her oesophagus, that will stretch it enough for her to manage food.

But Rachel found that she was not alone and turned to TOFS, an organization that offers support for families of children born unable to swallow.

The charity has declared the seven days starting October 11 an awareness week. Rachel said: “There are different types of the illness but I just want to let people know that if your child is born with an oesophageal defect, they can go on to live a normal life.”

For more information visit info@tofs.org.uk