Ex-England Jack Wilshere today revealed his five-year-old daughter has a hole in her heart.
The former Arsenal midfielder admitted he thought Siena would ‘100 per cent’ die during the operation, as he spoke candidly to the BBC about his daughter’s congenital heart defect.
Wilshere and wife Andriani Michael welcomed daughter Siena just a year after their wedding in June 2017 – but noticed she was always coughing shortly after her first birthday.
During a family vacation in Cyprus, a doctor discovered a heart murmur and urged the family to take Siena to a cardiologist, where they discovered that Siena had a hole in her heart.
Recalling the terrifying phone call he made to his wife, Wilshere told the BBC: “I was preparing to travel with the team, my team, for a match as we normally do, my phone rang.”
Jack Wilshere (pictured) with his daughter Sienna, whom he calls his ‘heart warrior’
Jack Wilshere spoke candidly to BBC Breakfast about his ‘heart warrior’ daughter
The former England star and his wife Andriani Michael welcomed daughter Siena just a year after their wedding in June 2017. Pictured Siena with Jack
Jack Wilshere speaks to BBC Breakfast about his daughter needing surgery for a congenital heart defect. Pictured here with his wife Andriani and daughter Siena
Mother Andriani said: ‘I remember falling to the floor crying, I just couldn’t believe the news, it was shocking.
Siena underwent a five-hour operation in February after being diagnosed with a venosus atrial septal defect, or hole in the heart, a month earlier.
Jack recalled, “When he went to the intensive care unit and saw your daughter sleeping there, with all those wires.”
When asked if he thought his daughter would die during the operation, he said, “100 percent.”
Andriani added: “I remember hearing her cry and I burst into tears because I knew she was going to be okay, it was just the recovery.”
Wilshere (photo) and his daughter Siena playing football at their parental home
Jack and Andriani Wilshere (pictured) with the family in ‘heart warrior’ t-shirts dedicated to Siena
Andriani (pictured) with her daughter Siena in intensive care as she underwent a five-hour operation for her heart defect
Jack Wilshere (pictured) with his daughter Siena, who was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect at the age of five
Around thirteen babies are born every day in Britain with a congenital heart defect, and sixty years ago the vast majority would not survive their first birthday.
Thanks to research, more than eight in ten babies born with a heart defect will survive to adulthood.
Jack told the BBC: ‘We are very proud of what she has been through and her journey.
‘I was a footballer and I’ve had a lot of operations and I know how hard it is to recover and these are nothing compared to what she went through as a five-year-old and just to come back the way she did – a lot of courage. I’m so proud of her.”
Wilshere is now trying to raise awareness of the condition and has become an official ambassador for the British Heart Foundation.
“There are so many fighters,” Jack added, “and hopefully we can give parents support, we can do more research on it and really try to make a difference in the parents’ lives, but also in the children’s lives. ‘