Youngest child to get heart implant dies at 17 months

A baby girl who became Britain’s youngest patient to receive a heart implant has died aged 17 months.

Carina Marcangelo was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy — which damages the heart muscle —and fitted with a defibrillator at nine months.

At 14 months, she had a heart transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Her parents Nicole and Darren, from Esher in Surrey, paid tribute to Carina, saying: “We are broken and are not sure how to carry on ... We will miss you and love you forever baba.”

They also thanked the family of the anonymous heart donor: “We were blessed with four and a half very special months with our baby because of the generosity of one family who we will always be grateful to.”