Actress Stephanie Davis hopes the Hollyoaks’ storyline of her character Sinead Roscoe losing her baby Katy to an undiagnosed heart condition will help save lives.

Sinead, who lost baby Katy last week on the soap, was accused of poisoning her, however tonight’s episode reveals the cause of Katy’s death to be the heart condition, cardiomyopathy. Her death follows Sinead’s desperate attempts to convince her family and doctors that Katy was ill, which were unsuccessful.

Now actress Stephanie Davis is backing a national campaign ‘Think HEART’ to help raise awareness to parents and doctors about spotting the early signs of heart conditions in babies.

The caring star invited children with heart conditions and their families from the UK’s leading children’s heart charity, the Children’s Heart Federation and its member group, the Children’s Heart Association to the Hollyoaks set to learn more about the campaign.

Stephanie Davis says: “I’m so glad that the baby Katy storyline will help to highlight how important it is for children’s heart conditions to be detected early.

It has been an absolute pleasure to meet children living with heart conditions and their families. It has made me determined to help highlight the Children’s Heart Federation’s ‘Think HEART’ campaign”.

Among the families was mother, Kirsty Patience who nearly lost her new born son Alex to a heart condition, which several doctors failed to spot despite her raising early concerns.

“He never cried. He slept all the time, and wasn’t feeding at all. His hands and feet were so, so cold. If I had known the symptoms I would have gone to the hospital straight away. When I stop and think about how he could have died if I had left it that little bit longer, I am just so grateful he is here today.”

Anne Keatley-Clarke, Chief Executive of CHF says: “We are very grateful to Stephanie Davis for supporting our ‘Think HEART’ campaign and generously giving up her time to meet children with heart conditions and their families.

“Every year, 5,000 babies are born with a heart condition, but only a third are detected before birth, leaving many babies undiagnosed until they become very sick. We hope Hollyoaks’ excellent storyline will help parents become more aware of the early signs of heart conditions”.

Think HEART provides parents with five easy signs to help to spot a heart problem:

H – Heart Rate (Is their heart rate too fast or too slow. Normal rate is between 100 to 160 beats per minute)

E – Energy (Are they sleepy, quiet and too tired to feed)

A – Appearance (Is your baby a pale, waxy, dusky, blue or grey colour)

R – Respiration (Are they breathing too fast or too slow. Normal rate is between 40 to 60 breaths per minute)

T – Temperature (Are they cold to touch – particularly their hands and feet)

To get involved with the Think HEART campaign visit www.chfed.org.uk/thinkheart.

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