A four-year-old girl from Tenby - who has undergone 10 life-saving operations since being diagnosed as a newborn baby with congenital heart disease, has been honoured for her bravery by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) at a national awards ceremony.

Poppy Brown was presented with a BHF Young Heart Hero Award by BHF CEO, Dr Charmaine Griffiths at the event at Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey.

Now in their seventh year, the awards honour inspirational children who have bravely overcome a range of heart health challenges or raised vital funds through exceptional dedication.

Hosted by CBBC’s Dr Dan and Dr Raph Olaiya, Poppy and her family along with other inspirational youngsters were treated to tours of the park before official sponsors Claire’s brought the fun and sparkle to the event with party games and activities.

Poppy was born with hypoplastic right heart syndrome (HRHS) and had her first operation at just three days old at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

The tenth operation Poppy underwent took place in January 2024. This procedure was very long and difficult for Poppy, as she was in theatre for 11 hours, and spent 91 minutes on bypass – longer than the usual time during a procedure.

While Poppy recovered in intensive care, her parents Hollie and Ben were informed by doctors that she could be facing weeks on the unit and the prospect of further operations and treatment.

Ben said: “Poppy dug deep, and after one week in intensive care she amazed all the doctors and surgeons at the hospital with how well she managed and recovered.

“We are all really proud of her and feel this is an amazing award for her. We want her to know just what a little hero and warrior she is. She’s an inspiration and my hero.

“It has been wonderful that her bravery has been recognised by the British Heart Foundation through the Young Heart Hero Award. She enjoyed every minute of the awards and the visit to Chessington. It was such a special day and fantastic to see Poppy so happy.”

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation, said: “Our Young Heart Hero Awards are the most inspirational celebration, and it was such a privilege to meet outstanding children like Poppy and her family. I am in awe of what our extraordinary young heroes have been through, and seeing their resilience and continued passion to support the British Heart Foundation is just amazing.

“I want to extend a special thank you to our sparkling sponsors, Claire’s, for helping to making this year’s event even more magical for these exceptional youngsters.

“Our extraordinary young heart heroes are among the 7.6 million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory diseases. Donating to the BHF this Christmas is the gift that keeps on living, helping us fund more research to help keep families like Poppy’s together for many Christmases to come.”

To donate to the British Heart Foundation this festive season, head to: bhf.org.uk/Christmas