A ONE-WEEK-OLD baby boy is fighting for his life in Alder Hey Children's Hospital after being born prematurely with a rare heart defect.

Ben Key and Amy Perry, from Rainhill, were beyond excited to be expecting their first child together and had what they thought was a normal pregnancy.

However, last Monday, June 15, Amy started haemorrhaging and was rushed into Whiston Hospital where 30 minutes later baby Chester was born via c-section.

Initial tests found that Chester had a rare heart problem, called transposition of the great arteries.

This is a condition in which the two main blood vessels leaving the heart, the pulmonary artery (which takes blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen) and the aorta (which takes blood from the heart to the body) are swapped over (switched).

Almost immediately after birth Chester was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital where he is under close observations and was operated on.

But his biggest fight is yet to come.

St Helens Star:

Little fighter: Chester

His auntie Abbie Key, 26, said: "Amy started haemorrhaging on Monday and was rushed into hospital and, honestly, she nearly died, thank god she's OK now.

"But Chester was delivered in an emergency c-section, even Ben couldn't be in there it was that serious. And from there it's been one thing after another.

"He's eight weeks premature but the main issue is this heart condition he has. He had an operation a few hours after he was born to make a little hole in his valve to stop it closing up.

"But the main thing now is he has to have an operation to fix this urgently, because he cannot survive off the ventilator.

"Ideally Alder Hey surgeons would like to wait until he's a bit bigger and stronger to do this, but they've also said he urgently needs this, so his life really is in the balance here.

"We are waiting for them to come up with a plan as we speak."

Regardless of whether Chester can have this operation, he is going to be in hospital for some time, so Abbie has launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help Ben, 31 and Amy, 24 during this time.

Mum-of-two Abbie added: "They haven't been able to give Chester a cuddle or anything. Ben hasn't even held him at all yet, only held his hand, and Amy is now out of hospital but as you can imagine they are not resting and are by Chester's side.

"They are staying in the Ronald McDonald House from tonight just in case he gets taken for this operation, so any money to help them during this time literally means they get to stay with their baby.

"It's going to be a long process and we want to support them in whatever they need to make sure they can stay where they need to be – with Chester.

"If anyone can help it would mean the world."

To donate go to gofundme.com/f/chester-our-little-warrior