Boy with rare heart illness awaits tests

A SERIOUSLY-ILL youngster who needs a heart transplant will undergo more tests to see if his condition is deteriorating.

Three-year-old William Simpson, from Meir, has a rare heart condition and was placed on the list for a transplant six months ago.

But because no heart has yet been found for him, William and his parents, Chris and Tracey, must travel to London in January for the tests.

Tracey, aged 37, of Chatsworth Place, said: "William is still on the list, but because he has been on it so long he needs the tests to be done again.

"We are expecting to hear he is deteriorating because he is outgrowing his heart valve, so his heart is having to work a bit harder."

William, who has mitral valve stenosis, was fitted with an artificial metal valve when he was just a few months old.

His parents had hoped he would not need a transplant until he was six or seven years old and were initially told it could take up to a year for a heart to be found.