Christmas miracle comes early for UK baby

A baby born with her heart outside her body has miraculously survived after UK surgeons began operating on her within minutes of her birth.

Vanellope Hope Wilkins, who has no breastbone, was delivered by Caesarean section three weeks ago, reports the BBC.

Video released by Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, central England, shows the team of obstetricians, heart surgeons, anaesthetists and midwives operating on the tiny baby.

Her parents Naomi Findlay and Dean Wilkins discovered during an ultrasound that Vanellope’s heart was outside her chest.

The condition - ectopia cordis, is very rare, with only a few cases per million births, of which most are stillborn.

She is the first baby in the UK with the condition to survive, according to the hospital.

The couple defied advice to have a termination and pressed on with the pregnancy.

Vanellope had been due on Christmas Eve but she was delivered on November 22 to give her more chance of survival.

She has undergone three operations to place her heart back in her chest.

The first one began within 50 minutes of her arrival into the world.

In the most recent surgery, the hole in Vanellope’s chest was covered with her own skin.

Her parents described Vanellope as a “real fighter”.