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An oarsome talent... and they gave him just 12 hours to live
A SCHOOLBOY who was given just 12 hours to live after being born with a heart problem has been picked for an elite Olympic training programme.
Jonathan Brown was born with a hole in his heart and his family had him christened in hospital amid fears he would not survive.
Dad Steve Brown, 53, said: "It was life and death. We got him christened in hospital because we did not think he would come out."
When Jonathan was three months old surgeons at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital carried out a life-saving operation.
Jonathan, who was born four weeks early weighing 6lb 10oz, is now 15, a strapping 6ft 3in and on the road to sporting greatness.
The schoolboy has been selected for a scheme which could see him realise an Olympic dream. The pilot sports initiative is aimed at "gifted young sports people with the potential to become Olympians".
Jonathan, a Year 11 pupil at Wellfield Community School, Wingate, has been chosen as one of 22 rising stars across County Durham to train alongside top performers. Proud Steve is delighted with his determined son's success.
He said: "They think he really has got a chance to do it. It is all the more surprising because he after his operation he was given just 12 hours to live."
Jonathan, who also had problems with his stomach wall, had another operation at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, but by the time he was one doctors gave him a clean bill of health.
Steve, an aerial fitter, said: "He spent months in hospital and now look where he is."
Mum Lesley, 39, said she first noticed something was wrong when Jonathan was a week old.
She said: "When he was a baby he would lie there and all of a sudden he was blue and he was gasping for breath.
"We thought that we could lose him. It was always there in the back of your mind, 'Is he going to be there in the morning?'"
Lesley said the position of the hole was such that it restricted blood flow from one side of the heart to the other. She said: "I never thought I would see the day he was a potential Olympian."
Steve said Jonathan's younger brother, Ryan, 11, who is a boxer at Gus Robinson Amateur Boxing Club, in Hartlepool's West View Road, was always the sportsman of the family.
He added: "Just these past nine months Jonathan has come out of the blue.
"Harry Blackwood, who worked at the school, saw him on a rowing machine and put him on a stopwatch. He was 15th fastest in the country."
The dedicated student does the majority of his training at Tees Rowing Club and gets up at 6.30am to practise before school.
He competes in indoor rowing and Steve, of East Terrace, Hesleden, said he has since risen to the top three or four in the country for his age.
Jonathan is also waiting on news to find out whether he has won a scholarship in the south of England.
The family are looking for sponsors to help Jonathan realise his dream. Anyone who can help can contact him on (01429) 837727.
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Weather for Hartlepool
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: 0 C to 3 C
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