I won't take things for granted after my son had hole in his heart

Kimberley Millar has spoken about how a normal birth with her son turned into a nightmare after 24 hours as he was diagnosed with Ventricular Septal Defect (VSP)

At just three months old, Ben had to have open heart surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow. Kimberley said that the doctors highlighted the serve risk that came with doing a surgery such as this on a baby.

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Speaking about the surgery, Kimberley from Milngavie, said: "The hospital were absolutely fantastic with me and the family when they were having to look after Ben. 

"It was a stressful and challenging period for all of us as we didn't know how it was going to go. 

"Ben was born normal and there was nothing wrong until 24 hours later when the doctors discovered he had a hole in his heart.

"But something that did really keep us going was a story that we had seen the Glasgow Times do in the past of something similar. 

"At the time we did feel like we were the only ones going through this but it was good to hear from someone else and how they felt, it did help us."

Now, over a year later, Ben has made a recovery and Kimberley says that she is looking to enjoy the little things with her son.

Recently, having completed a 3k walk for the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity, Kimberley described how the support from other parents at the event helped her with some of the questions and feelings she was having.

She said: "Describing what we went through to our family and friends was really helpful but being around people who went through what we did was helpful.

"Having the other mums talk about some of their feelings, which was what we as a family were experiencing really opened my eyes knowing that others felt the same as us and we weren't alone."

The mum-of-two has said that taking part in the charity walk will be a tradition of every year with her husband, James, daughter Jessica and son Ben.

She has said that she wants Ben to grow up knowing the importance of doing the walk every year.

She said:  "We really aren't taking anything for granted anymore, especially the little things. 

"We are proud to be taking part in this event as a family, and to have Ben walking unaided for parts of the walk was brilliant to see. 

"Although he did have to complete a good bit of it in the pram, but we know he still did it with us which is the main thing.

"I would like to thank everyone at the hospital for what they did for Ben, they really are amazing!"