A campaign to encourage people to donate unwanted items to a local charity shop has been launched in Bury St Edmunds by a seven-year-old heart patient.

Lucy Bluett visited the British Heart Foundation (BHF) shop in Bury with her family on Saturday to show her support for the charity’s ‘Bag It, Beat It’ campaign.

Shortly after her birth at West Suffolk Hospital in July 2007, Lucy was diagnosed with “a tremendous heart murmur” which warranted further investigation. A few weeks later, the cardiologist told Lucy’s parents that she had Tetralogy of Fallot, which meant that blood with less oxygen was going around her body, and she would die if she didn’t have surgery before she was one year old. The condition was spotted because Lucy had two holes in her heart, causing a large murmur.

Her mum, Amanda Prentice, 37, said: “Finding out that without major open heart surgery your child will not live to see their first birthday is the single most horrific thing that I have ever been told.

“This was all a very new experience for me and any new mum would be terrified if they found out there might be something wrong with their baby.

“I am forever thankful that she had two holes in her heart because that probably saved her life. She had her first surgery, which lasted three and a half hours, when she was nine months old.”

Throughout September, the British Heart Foundation is urging Bury St Edmunds locals to donate bags full of unwanted items – anything from clothing to books or bric-a-brac – to their local shop.

According to Heart Foundation research, an estimated 420 children with congenital heart defects that limit their quality of life will start school in the East of England this year. But around 37 of their potential classmates will have lost their life before reaching school age.

Sonya Pringle, BHF area manager, said: “We’d like everyone in Bury St Edmunds to have a clear out and to donate bags of unwanted items to their local BHF shop.

“Your unwanted items will raise vital life-saving funds, helping little heroes like Lucy to continue to fight congenital heart disease.”