A mum from Halifax whose baby boy had open heart surgery at just one month old has spoken of the support she received from the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund charity.

Maryam Iqbal is encouraging people to wear red this month to show support for the charity during Heart Month, so they can help more families like hers.

Hundreds of individuals, families, schools and businesses across the region have been wearing red for the charity throughout February to raise both money and awareness. Wear Red Day can be any day in February, but charity is celebrating on Friday, February 28.

Maryam was told her son, Hadi Khan, may have congenital heart disease during her 20-week scan and he was born with a ventricular septal defect, a hole in his heart.

Hadi is now three-months old but received open heart surgery at just one month old.

And the Children’s Heart Surgey Fund helped the family with both parent accommodation and wellbeing support during his life-saving treatment over the Christmas period.

Maryam, a financial director for Huddersfield based Dortech, said: “We wanted to be close as possible during this difficult time and the charity’s family support team provided us with the details for their accommodation at Brotherton wing where we stayed for a few days whilst Hadi had undergone surgery and during the recovery phase.

"Unfortunately, we were not allowed to stay by his bedside so this accommodation made things a lot more easier and less stressful whilst being close to my boy.

"Hadi is on the road to recovery, he got diagnosed with a rare condition known as D George Syndrome. This was picked up by the surgeons whilst he was in surgery, where they found he had an absent Thymus gland.

"The genetic testing recently confirmed this condition.

"Hadi is currently feeding via nasogastric tube to help with weight gain. He is also on quite a few medications post heart surgery and also for this condition as his immune system is very weak.

"Due to the donations given, the charity is able to provide more support to families during difficult times. It’s the first time I have experienced support from a charity and am really thankful as I got to spend a lot of time with Hadi without having to travel miles.

"Also the charity does a lot more - like providing life-saving equipment as well as provide updated training for the staff.

"Being a mum for the first time is hard enough, but having a child with heart failure is very stressful.

"Hospitals can become very lonely places and the charity was there for me if I wanted a chat about anything that worried me.”

The charity funds a regional children’s cardiac nurse specialist at Calderdale Royal Hospital, who works with patients of all ages, meaning they have a local specialist available for appointments.

You can sign up to Wear Red Day at www.chsf.org.uk/wear-red-day and donate on their Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/wear-red-day-2025 or by texting CHSFWRD (plus any amount up to 20) to 70085.