A baby was left needing major surgery at just three days old after she turned 'purple' during her first feed.
Helena Brian, now 7-years-old, was born with part of her oesophagus attached to her trachea, meaning when she was fed, it went into her lungs.
This meant the little girl had to go under the knife at just three days old to put her oesophagus together.
READ MORE: Dad strangled mum of his child after she found text on his phone
Since then, Helena has had over 35 operations and counting.
Jo Brian, Helena's mum, told the ECHO : "When she was born, her oesophagus, her food pipe, didn't meet up in the middle and part of it instead was attached to her trachea, her windpipe.
"That meant she couldn't feed and anything that went into her mouth went into her lungs. They found out pretty quickly after birth and sent her to Alder Hey to have surgery to fix this.
"A lot of the surgeries since were when she was little to stretch her oesophagus. She's also got VACTERL Association which is a series of other conditions so she's had various other surgeries to deal with that as well.
"For her, she is incredibly brave, funny and cheerful and she just takes it all in her stride. She does get fed up but then she bounces back.
"For her brother and sister I think it will have a massive impact on them as they get older because they've learnt to be kind before they could even speak really.
"Her brother has had to learn that sometimes when there is a dramatic event in the family and he rolls with it until it is dealt with.
"For Adam and I as parents it was traumatic when she was first born but we have a good, strong and kind family around us, and we have a kind, supporting church around us.
"The hospital isn't a bad place for us either. We're used to the routine and the kindness of the staff, and we're used to their competence."
The piano teacher, and mum to Helena's brother, Barney, four, and sister, Coralie, one, described what happened when Helena was first fed shortly after the birth.
The 33-year-old from Formby told the ECHO : "She tried to feed and went purple so they took her down to the NICU at Ormskirk [Hospital] and did investigations, then did scans where they found that her oesophagus didn't meet."
Helena is now raising money for Alder Hey Children's Hospital after spending her life being looked after by the staff at the hospital.
She is spending at least 30 minutes each day litter picking for seven days, cleaning up the area and raising money at the same time.
Helena's goal was to raise £150, at the time of writing this she is on her way to raising £700.
Jo said: "Alder Hey is a happy place for her and she wants to raise money for it to be a happy place for other children as well.
"She knows that painting, toys on the ward or rewards for bravery, the money doesn't come from nowhere so she wants the money to be used to help other children to feel happy when they're attending the hospital. "
The idea of litter picking is also something that Helena feels strongly about. The seven-year-old has already prompted her primary school to stop using disposable cups and make space for wildflowers.
Jo told the ECHO : "She wrote a letter to her headteacher asking for environmental changes to the school such as asking for a plot of land for wildflowers and stop using disposable cups.
"The headteacher was amazing, she got on it straight away and made a difference to the school. Helena really appreciated how quickly and easily you can make a difference to the environment.
"Litter picking was already on her mind and there is a fair bit of litter where we live so she combined the two."
For more information or to donate, click here.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
