A HELENSBURGH youngster is waiting to hear whether he'll be chosen as one of a leading charity's 2017 Heart Heroes.

 

Nine-year-old Findlay Campbell, who was born with complete congenital heart block, is one of three young people in the running for the British Heart Foundation's 'Young Hero' award.

 

The winner of the prize – and of all the BHF's Scottish awards – will be announced at a ceremony at the BHF's Scottish 'Supporter Day' in Edinburgh next week.

 

But regardless of his fate on Tuesday, Findlay's mum, Debra Readhead, says she can't contain her pride in a boy she says has “the biggest heart on the planet”.

 

Findlay underwent surgery to have a pacemaker fitted almost as soon as he was born eight weeks early in 2008. And while his condition means he can't be quite as physically active as his classmates at St Joseph's Primary School, he has more than made up for that by tirelessly raising awareness of his condition and raising money for the work of the BHF.

 

Debra told the Advertiser: “Findlay has two scars on his chest and stomach, and his pacemaker sticks out like a matchbox, but he started asking questions about his condition as soon as he could. What's this scar? What's that lump? Why don't you have one?

 

“I've always worn items of BHF jewellery, and Findlay asked where I got them.

 

“I told him they were from the charity that helps his condition, and funds the research that makes him better.

 

“His very first event was a sponsored bring-and-buy sale at his nursery, and it all grew from there.”

 

Debra herself has autoimmune lupus, and antibodies from her blood attacked Findlay's heart several weeks before he was due to be born, leaving him facing a life dependent on a pacemaker – though if Findlay was a few years older, the outlook would have been even bleaker.

 

“He went into heart failure inside my body,” Debra said.

 

“Complete congenital heart block means there's no electricity getting to the bottom two chambers of his heart, so it can't beat without a pacemaker.

 

“But 15 or 20 years ago they didn't make pacemakers small enough to be implanted into new babies.

 

“Fortunately they make a machine small enough to be put into his abdomen, and he came on really, really well.

 

“When he was two he climbed out of his cot and fell and his pacemaker failed – he had to have emergency surgery immediately to have a replacement fitted.

 

“He's aware he's got to be careful – he doesn't do contact sport, and everyone at school is aware of his condition. But he's a boy, and he does rough and tumble. I just don't look.”

 

Findlay is due to undergo surgery again within the next six months to have the battery in his pacemaker replaced – but that doesn't mean a let-up in the pace of his BHF campaigning, or in the support the community in Helensburgh is showing for the charity.

 

Debra continued: “Every year we wear read for the BHF, and the staff and school are wonderful in their support of Finn.

 

“And everyone has just kept bringing me money over the years. They still do it – they post donations through the door and leave money at the BHF shop in Helensburgh “for the boy that's in the paper”.

 

“At school he chooses the BHF, pacemakers and other things related to his condition for a lot of his topics.

 

“He keeps the money he gets from classmates, their parents, family and friends in a wee red tin in his room, and we've got a JustGiving page which raises money for the BHF every year.

 

“At Christmas he decided he wanted to use the money raised during the year to buy wee presents for kids in the cardiac unit at the Royal Hospital for Children, which was just so kind and thoughtful – but it was typical of him.

 

“He's a painfully shy boy, but he's got a heart of gold. For someone with such a weak heart, it's really the biggest heart on the planet.”

 

The BHF's Scottish Supporter Day and Heart Hero awards take place at the University of Edinburgh's medical school on Tuesday, June 27, when Findlay will be up against Nathan Byrne and Colbie-Kate Ross for the Young Hero award.