Unit is a vital lifeline, says Ruari’s mum

Wednesday 16th March 2011, 11:30AM GMT.

Lucy Prevel, 24, and son Ruari Cicmic, now seven, who received lifesaving treatment in the Southampton cardiac unit under threat of closure when he was four. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 1109434)

SOUTHAMPTON Hospital’s cardiac unit for children is a vital lifeline for the island, says a Guernsey mum whose son’s life was saved by the facility.

Lucy Prevel, 24, is backing the Southern Daily Echo’s Have a Heart Campaign to save the unit from closure as she said it was a way of giving something back to the hospital that did so much for her little boy, Ruari Cicmic.

Ruari, who is now seven, was just four when he was diagnosed with two holes in his heart and a broken valve.

He had been born with the condition, but it was not detected until he started to become ill with several chest infections.