A baby girl has made medical history twice after surviving rare heart and lung conditions.

Just days into her life, Georgina Winham had to undergo a seven-hour heart operation to cure a condition that only affects one child in 10,000.

Medics despaired after her first life-saving surgery uncovered a rare lung disorder and she was given no hope of survival. But Georgina has defied the odds, not only becoming the first in the world to have both illnesses, but also the first ever to survive the lung condition.

Now, her relieved parents Paul and Mandy, of Wallsend, North Tyneside, are hoping Georgina's story will inspire people to donate cash to the Children's Heart Unit Fund (CHUF) at the Freeman Hospital that saved her life. Market trader Paul, 56, said: "Georgina was the first doctors had seen to have both the heart condition and the lung condition. They said she would not survive it. I spent three days in tears but she pulled through."

Georgina was born on December 30 at North Tyneside General Hospital, weighing 9lb 7oz. But after her heart problem was discovered, she was moved to Newcastle's Freeman Hospital. Mum Mandy, 28, who already has Jessica, five, James, four, and Maggie, 16 months, said: "I have never ever felt like that, thinking I was going to lose one of my children. It was the worst feeling I have ever had."

Georgina was diagnosed with total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC), which means the veins that bring blood from the lungs back to the heart are connected to the wrong side of the heart.

On January 2, she endured a seven-hour operation to correct the condition. A biopsy detected a lung disorder called bronchial alveolar dysplasia, which means there are not enough capillaries to get oxygen into the blood stream from the air.