BABY Jake Cathcart's first birthday party has been rescheduled after his parents received "amazing news" from doctors.

Jake's original zebra-themed party at Knowsley Safari Park, in May, was cancelled as he had to undergo major heart surgery.

On Tuesday (August 16) heart experts at Great Ormond Street Hospital sent the family home after a full day of investigations, with an appointment to go back in one year's time, says to Jake's mum Claire.

His mum has booked another party for Jake on Sunday (August 28) to celebrate the good news.

IT worker Claire, from Sutton, said: "This is amazing news! He'll still be seen at Alder Hey regularly, but his heart function has improved more than they were expecting or hoping for.

"The plan is to optimise the overall function of the heart, as it's still impaired compared to a normal one. They will introduce a beta blocker, but this will be done in Alder Hey over a few days.

"We will be given a device for doing checks at home and we'll need to keep a close eye on him in case the changes they have made aren't having the desired effect.

"From a heart failure point of view, the consultant was really happy and there are no plans to put him on the transplant list if things continue the way they are going."

She said Jake "is like a different child, growing, developing and incredibly healthy".

She said: "It's very hard to believe that the happy little baby sitting on my knee on the train back from London was the same child that was being resuscitated less than three months ago."

She added: "We've rescheduled his birthday party - zebra-themed of course - for August 28, and I may have blown the budget slightly!"

When Jake was born he was rushed to Alder Hey after midwives discovered his high heart rate. He later suffered a cardiac arrest and was put on 14 different medications per day.

In early January, he was taken to A&E when he started having "blue episodes" - turning blue and experiencing pain

After trying different types of drugs, Jake was taken to Great Ormond Street by helicopter to be assessed by doctors, who decided a pacemaker would give him the best chance. This procedure was carried out on May 16 at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Jake then had to have major surgery to close a hole in his heart - an operation which involved stopping his heart - on May 23, his first birthday.