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Blyth mum to undergo pioneering surgery in Texas to save unborn baby; Shannon Lynch will travel to Texas next month to undergo surgery which is said to have only been carried out on animals.

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Byline: By, Sophie Brownson

A Blyth mum is set to undergo pioneering surgery in America to save the life of her unborn baby boy.

Shannon Lynch, 25, and partner Kalvin Hurst, 28, were heartbroken when doctors told them 12 weeks into the pregnancy that the baby's bowel was growing outside of his body -a condition known as gastroschisis.

Doctors were initially confident that the baby could undergo surgery after he was born but at 16 weeks they became concerned when they noticed the bowel had started to swell. At Shannon's 20-week scan she was offered a termination but immediately declined and instead prayed for a miracle.

The couple were thrown a lifeline after doctors at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary RVI reached out to surgeons in Texas who offered to perform a new surgery that aims to reduce the mortality rate in gastroschisis babies.

Shannon, who is due in February, told ChronicleLive the surgery, referred to as '"fetal repair of complex Gastroschisis," has never been carried out on a human before.

"I got offered to go to Texas, as a group of surgeons had been funded to practice a new surgery to hopefully reduce the mortality rate in gastroschisis babies," she said.

"This would be done by removing my womb, operating on the baby whilst he is in my womb, then placing him back in me till I hopefully reach 36/37 weeks. This surgery has only been performed on sheep and lambs, but has been approved in August."

Shannon, who works for British Airways and is also mum to son Eli, 10 months, said the family will fly out to the USA in two weeks' time. They will then...

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