'We thought our baby had a cold, but two symptoms showed the truth'

Teona Gherasim

Parents who thought their six-week-old baby had a cold were told by doctors to watch for two symptoms. When baby Atlas was struggling to breath, his parents Matt Jukes and Tansy Simpson had no idea he did not have a virus but was actually suffering from two congenital heart defects, and within days he had open heart surgery. The couple, from Peckham, London, found themselves living at a hospital for a month. “We felt scared, devastated, heartbroken, shocked and blindsided,” Matt said. “It was