A LITTLE boy born with his heart upside down is enjoying a new lease of life.

Samuel Bethell, two, can now play like any other toddler thanks to the surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital in September.

While Samuel was expected to stay in hospital for at least three months, he left after only four weeks.

Surgeons originally said they would have to wait many months to find out how successful the operation was.

But his family were given an early Christmas present when they were the operation had been a success.

Mum Vicki Gibson, of Colchester, said: “Samuel is doing really well.

“Everything looks good and they are really happy with him.

“Samuel is now back to three month checks, they have taken away his community nurse because he no longer needs one and his SATS machine has been taken away because I don’t need to check them anymore.

“Everything is starting to come together and he is a normal little boy.”

Samuel was born with four life-threatening heart conditions including a hole in his heart which was upside down and facing the wrong way.

His heart is also half the size it should be and only half of that functions properly.

His rare condition left him breathless, with poor circulation and at risk of having a cardiac arrest.

The latest operation in September was his fourth.

Doctors originally were going to turn his heart round to face the right direction, but in the end did not need to.

Instead they pulled an artery up from his leg to connect to his heart to improve his circulation.

It has been a continuous struggle for Vicki, 28, and her partner Rick, 43.

But it is one which has been shared by charity the Rainbow Trust.

Vicki was at Little Haven’s Hospice one day when she was asked how she was coping.

She said: “I cried my eyes out.

“They said they would get in touch with a new charity called the Rainbow Trust.

“Our key worker Sarah is like family now.”

The trust is a charity which looks after families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness.

It helps more than 2,000 families a year throughout England.

As well as taking Vicki and Samuel to hospital appointments, Sarah also looks after Samuel’s sisters Daisy, six, and Betsy, one, when Vicki and Rick go to appointments together as well as babysitting and taking the children out.

She helps out once a week.

Vicki said she is now looking at organising a fundraiser to say thank you to the trust for their help.

She added: “Without Sarah I would not survive some days.”