MORE than £1000 worth of cakes and heart shaped gifts were sold at Stroud Farmers Market in aid of Little Hearts Matter on Saturday, October 25.

Jo and Ben Haywood, of Stroud, were given the stall on Saturday to raise money for the charity which helped support their daughter Grace.

Grace was born with Hypoplastic Left heart syndrome this year. Overall £1140 was raised in support of children born with half a heart.

“Grace was diagnosed with HLHS at our 20 week scan,” explained Jo.

“We knew this would involve several operations, her heart would never be normal and that she had only a 60 per cent chance of surviving all three operations.

“We were devastated, but we wanted to give Grace every chance of life.”

Despite undergoing two open heart procedures at Bristol Children’s Hospital, Grace is doing extremely well.

“Grace is such a happy, smiley and content little girl; you would never know how much she has been through.

“We are so proud of her and want to do all we can to support children and families in similar situations.”

Around 200 children a year are born with Hypoplastic Left Heart syndrome, a rare condition that means the heart only has one ventricle.

Without undergoing complex open heart surgery, children will not survive longer than a few days from birth.

Little Hearts Matter offer children and families information, support and hope for the future.