Baby to undergo heart surgery

Six-month-old Jack Renton from Northumberland has an extremely rare heart condition and will have to undergo major surgery in the next couple of months.

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Northumberland baby has extremely rare condition

A baby boy from Northumberland is one of just 63 people in the world with a heart that squirts blood instead of pumping it.

Six month old Jack Renton, from Elsdon, was born with an extremely rare condition which means his heart could stop at any time as blood is not constantly being pumped around it.

He's building up enough strength for surgery at the Freeman hospital in Newcastle after being diagnosed with '8p23 deletion', which has only been recognised since 1988.

During the operation, an elastic band will be tied around the valve in his heart to stop it squirting and force it to pump instead.

Jack was born at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary and weighed just 4lb 14ozs. He needed specialist treatment for three weeks.

His operation is due in November.