Mum Carly, 19, said: “They will be inserting a plate into her heart, but obviously that’s not going to last forever.

“The doctors say that’s the last operation they can give her.

“After that, it’s just a waiting game for her to deteriorate. They can’t give me a date of when it’s going to happen.

“It could be months, it could be weeks.”

Evie-Mae, who lives with Carly on Burnley Road, Todmorden, was born with total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage, a rare congenital heart defect.

She also had several other problems related to her heart and her body, including being born without a spleen.

She underwent six hours of heart surgery at six-days-old and had a shunt inserted to keep the valve open in her heart.

She made a quick recovery but needed to undergo open heart surgery at nine-months-old.

“When they first diagnosed the problems, we were told she may only have a life expectancy of 30,” Carly said.

“We were then told she might not reach five.

“We have since been told that after this operation there may be nothing more the surgeons can do for her.”

She said her daughter has been very brave and is a real fighter.

“Just to look at her, she looks like a normal girl,” she said.

“She runs around but gets out of breath. Her face and hands are often blue.

“Her face is swollen in the morning due to bad circulation.”

Evie-Mae’s stepfather Jack Bamford, 21, of Burnley, will be running the Great North Run on September 16 to raise funds for the Children’s Heart Federation, which has supported the family over the past 17 months. He is aiming to raise at least £500.

To donate, visit Jack’s JustGiving page, www.justgiving.com/Jack-Bamford.

Source [sic]