FORMER Arsenal and England star Jack Wilshere suffered “five hours of hell” as his five-year-old daughter Siena had life-saving cardiac surgery.
And he said he had been “100 per cent” sure she would die during the operation to fix a hole in her heart in February.
Jack, 32, also recalled how he and his wife Andriani spent 45 minutes crying as they were gripped by the fear of losing her.
Only a month earlier, doctors had told the father-of-four that Siena — his second-youngest child — had the heart condition.
While it can be fatal, it often does not need surgery — but Siena had a rare kind which required swift action.
Arsenal ace Jack, who played 34 times for his country, told The Sun how he lost almost a stone due to stress during the month between her diagnosis and the surgery.
Even worse was the moment when Siena, now six, was given an anaesthetic just before the op began.
He said: “When I took Siena down to the surgery I had to drag my wife out of the anaesthetic room and we went to a room upstairs and we were just crying, both of us, for about 45 minutes.
Heart murmur
“It was five hours from hell, waiting for the phone to ring. It was a blur.”
Jack and Andriani have now become ambassadors for the British Heart Foundation, and he praises the charity’s work in helping to keep poorly children like their daughter alive.
He also hopes to alert other parents to the signs of heart problems.
In Siena’s case the early symptoms for a congenital heart defect, which means it was present from birth, were not obvious.
Jack said: “She was probably a bit more out of breath than her friends when she was on a trampoline, and chest infections hung around for longer.”
Medics thought it may be due to asthma, because Andriani had it as a child.
But it took two years for the real cause to be discovered, during a family holiday in Cyprus, where many of Andriani’s relatives live.
Jack said: “My kids got ill — nothing serious — ear infections. The doctor listened to her heart and said, ‘I don’t want to worry you, but I can hear a bit of a murmur in her heart’, and said, ‘You should get it checked when you get back to the UK’.
“That doctor saved my daughter’s life.”
A cardiologist carried out a series of tests on Siena, and days later, rang Jack, who coaches Arsenal’s under-18s, just as he was about to go away with his squad.
He recalled: “At the time I found out I was with my assistant.
“I was at the training ground and I virtually broke down in his arms when I told him. All my staff were brilliant.”
The hole in Siena’s heart was so serious that surgery was arranged for just a month later.
Tests had revealed the gap in the muscle wall between the lower chambers of her heart meant it had to work much harder, which is why she was so out of breath.
A tearful Andriani, 33, said: “I remember just falling to the floor and crying, I just couldn’t believe the news. It was shocking.”
Only 40 per cent of people born with a heart defect need heart surgery.
Often the issues are spotted while the child is in the womb.
But the worst cases carry the chance of sudden death, and it is necessary to carry out the operations while patients are still young.
Siena had a rare condition in which, Jack said, her veins had rerouted because they were leaking into her lungs.
The wait for the day when she would be “fixed” was almost impossible for the doting dad to bear.
And there was also the fear of his daughter undergoing a precarious operation.
He said: “I remember the date she got diagnosed — the 27th of January — and she eventually had the surgery on the 27th of February, and that whole month I lost six kilos.
Bag of nerves
“I can’t even remember it, it was so stressful, because obviously there were risks involved in the surgery.
”There was a one per cent chance she wouldn’t wake up.”
His wife was equally anxious.
Andriani said: “The night before, we were a bag of nerves. I remember having this feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
A team of medics had to close the defect in Siena’s heart, which could have caused sudden death.
She had surgery on Monday and we were back home on Friday. She was laughing, she’s really bubbly, she loves life
Jack Wilshire
After crying with his wife, Jack went for a coffee with his parents and took a walk around the block.
Thankfully, they got the message that Siena had pulled through.
Andriani recalled: “When we went down to the intensive care unit, it was all such a blur.
“I heard Siena cry and it was then that I knew she was going to be OK.”
Jack is in awe of the way his brave daughter had dealt with the terrible ordeal.
He said: “I have been through surgery. I had a lot of injuries as a player, and it took me ages to recover.
“She had the surgery on the Monday and we were back at home on the Friday and she was laughing.
“She’s really bubbly, she loves life. It’s great to have her fixed.”
And he added: “We call her our heart warrior. The bravery and strength she’s shown has been incredible.”
Three months on, it seems that Siena is making a good recovery.
Jack said: “The surgery has made all the difference and she has so much energy now.”
Up against it
The breathlessness and coughing fits have relented.
The couple are far from alone, because every day 13 babies in Britain are diagnosed with congenital heart disease.
It was the British Heart Foundation which helped Jack and Andriani to understand what they were up against.
Andriani said: “We didn’t know anything about congenital heart conditions and never thought our daughter would ever require open- heart surgery.
“Turning to the BHF made us feel less alone and gave us the answers and support we needed.”
The charity has been funding research into heart conditions for more than 60 years and put £99million into the field during 2022-2023.
Jack said: “We’re supporting the British Heart Foundation because without life-saving research keeping children’s hearts beating, we might not have Siena here with us today.”
It is not the first time the star has faced a health crisis with one of his children.
His eldest son, Archie, 12, from his relationship with Lauren Neal, often had to be rushed to hospital in the middle of the night, suffering from seizures.
Under control
Jack, who also has daughter Delilah, ten, with Lauren and a four-year-old son, Jack Junior with Andriani, said in 2019: “My wife and I would sit up most nights because most of the seizures were happening at night.”
Fortunately, doctors got the condition under control.
Now Jack’s aim as a British Heart Foundation ambassador is to raise awareness of the charity’s important work and to encourage people to have any problems or concerns properly assessed.
Many adults don’t even know they have a hole in the heart.
Jack said: “There are people suffering cardiac arrests who have gone undiagnosed.”
And he added: “You know your child better than anyone. If you think something isn’t quite right, don’t take no for an answer.
“It is the most common defect you can be born with.”
- To donate £5 please text FIVE to 70507 and help British Heart Foundation fund more life-saving research.