PARENTS of a two-year-old girl are hoping their daughter is on the road to recovery after heart surgery.

Soon after she was born, doctors found Faith Findley had a faulty valve in her heart, but doctors are now hopeful she will recover.

Her father, Flint, of North Kenton, Newcastle, 35, said: "She's been through so much in her short life, but our little girl has never given up."

Mr Findley and his wife, Judith, 34, became worried about their daughter only days after she was born at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary after she began having breathing problems.

By the time she was four months old, she was having trouble eating. Bronchitis was diagnosed and the family spent five weeks at their daughter's hospital bedside.

Specialists found Faith's lungs were under massive pressure and they decided to fly her to a hospital in Glasgow for treatment. Mrs Findley said: "A valve in her heart was leaking, leaving her lungs wet, which was causing her the breathing problems."

Faith, who has two sisters, four-year-old Grace and five-month-old Hope, spent her first birthday in hospital before she was flown back to Newcastle.

After two months in intensive care, specialists at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital decided to operate and, in April, Faith had a complex operation to fix the valve in her heart.

Mr Findley, a civil servant, said: "We knew the operation would be a risk but, thank God, it ended up giving her a whole new lease of life.

"Last Christmas, we were in and out of hospital all the time, worried about what was going to happen. So now we are all looking forward to spending the holidays together as one big family."