This South Shields girl was given a 1% chance of living when medics discovered a hole in her heart at 10 weeks old

But here she is now, and the South Shields three-year-old is defying all the odds to live life to the full.

The little miracle becomes the latest entry in this year’s Best of South Tyneside Awards and mum Margaret Holden, 27, revealed her daughter’s amazing story.

Lacey Mae’s fight for life began in September 2016 when she turned blue at the family home.

“I took her to South Shields hospital and she was blue lighted to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle,” said mum. “I was stressed, I was worried and I was crying. I thought ‘I am going to lose my baby’.

“They gave her an ECG and told me they were not going to sugar coat it – she needed an operation and there was a 1% chance she would make it. I was just praying she would make it through.”

Lacey Mae was found to have a massive hole in her main artery and was ‘one step away from needing a heart transplant’ said Margaret.

A ten-hour operation followed. Two more huge operations came after that as surgeons fought to rebuild the artery.

But the Freeman surgeons saved Lacey Mae’s life and now the amazing little girl is back home.

“She doesn’t like what has happened to her. She keeps pointing to her heart and I will say ‘that’s where the doctors made you better’,” mum added.

Lacey Mae faces more tests as her heart is not growing at the same rate as she is. More operations may be needed in the future.

“But she won’t let this define her,” said Margaret. “She does get tired but she battles through and keeps on playing.”

And now the inspirational three year old is also a big sister to Melissa Rose Davidson who came into the world 11 months ago.

“She is like a mother hen with her,” said Margaret. “She is a happy, bubbly, little fighter and I am extremely proud of her. She is the most courageous little girl I know.”

Lacey Mae joins an amazing line-up of people already nominated for an award.

Still time to nominate your own worthy cause

We want to know about the unsung heroes, community champions, inspirational children and fantastic sports people for this year’s awards which will be taking nominations until Friday, August 30.

That’s loads of time to put forward your favourites – and once we pass that deadline, the judges will meet to draw up a shortlist in each amazing category on September 3.

Then it is on to the grand finale which will be held on Thursday, September 19 at the Roker Hotel.

The Best of South Tyneside awards, this year, have the support of the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, Tyne Coast College, Barbour, JML, Harlow Print, UTS, and Warmseal.

Watch out for more details on them in the days and weeks to come.

In the meantime, let’s start that process of honouring all those unsung stars.

There are plenty of categories to choose from.

Get your nomination in as soon as you can as that way, you know you’ve put an unsung hero in the running for honours.

To nominate, please send us the full name, phone number and email address, of the person you wish to nominate and the category you want to nominate them for, along with a brief description of why they are worthy of an award.

And if you are submitting an entry in the Young Performer category, send us a video of them performing.

Send your entries by email to: [email protected] or to https://www.bestofsouthtyneside.co.uk.

The categories

Green Champion of the Year.

Child of Achievement.

Fundraiser of the Year.

Entrepreneur of the Year.

Local Hero Award.

Sporting Excellence/Young Sportsperson of the Year.

Sports Team of the Year.

Community Champion.

Student of the Year.

Community Group.

Small Business of the Year.

Large Business of the Year.

Child of Courage

Young Performer of the Year.

Lifetime Contribution.

Special Recognition.