A three-year-old girl from Drongan who survived major heart surgery has become a mini Munro-bagger after scaling Ben Ghlas and Ben Lawers in just one day.
Lola Mitchell was born with a very specific septum defect, meaning she had a large hole in the septum in her heart.
After sensing that something wasn’t quite right, Lola’s mum, Amy Boyd, 33, acted on her motherly instinct and took her daughter for a check-up where doctors confirmed the diagnosis.
During the first six months of Lola’s life, the girl suffered from ill health and underwent open heart surgery which took a significant toll on her young body.
But Lola, dubbed “the wee fighter”, powered through and is now making the most out of life by climbing Scotland’s highest mountains – and she isn’t stopping until she has conquered Ben Nevis.
Mother-of-four Amy said: “When Lola was born, she failed to thrive. I think once you get to your fourth child you realise something’s not right with feeding and so on.
“I remember walking into the doctors with her and immediately she said, you’re absolutely right. I can hear whooshing. They sent her to Crosshouse for a scan and it escalated from there to cardiologists at Glasgow who told us she would need open heart surgery.
“She then deteriorated and wouldn’t take feeds so had to be fed through a nasal tube which went down through her stomach. She’ll now have a lifetime of cardiology appointments and check-ups because when you have that surgery you’re at greater risk of infection. But she’s a wee fighter.”
Amy and partner Billy, 35, have always been avid hill-walkers but say it has brought them and their other children, Billy, 13, Lucy, 10, and Lily, 6, closer together after Lola’s ordeal.
After reaching the summit of the two peaks last weekend, the resilient tot even offered to get her surgery scars out to mark the moment.
Amy said: “We weren’t expecting her to get to the top of either of them but she walked the whole way then I carried her back down in her carrier.
“The funny thing was she kept taking my walking polls which actually made it harder for her to walk.
“Last year when we scaled the Devil’s Staircase in Glencoe, she got her scar out at the top so this time she asked, will I get my scar out?
“It was freezing and she was chittering with the cold so we decided against it. But she loves her scars and shows everyone. She knows it’s her special medal.
“Every year on May 24, the anniversary of her operation, we celebrate it just like a birthday. She always gets a gift and we just appreciate having her.
“I remember the endless tube feeding and being up through the night with her so I just want to let families going through the same thing know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that they can live a normal life.
“I want Lola’s story to be heard because I thought there would be no end to it and I thought we were going to lose her.
“But she’s as hard as nails. I’ve never met a wean like her. “
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