A FIVE-year-old Gwent girl who had a heart transplant as a baby is living on "borrowed time", says her mother.

Little Elisha Taylor, from Longcroft Road, Caldicot, has suffered from a congenital heart defect from birth and at seven months had a heart transplant.

But her mother, Kelly Taylor, says doctors told her the heart given to Elisha would only last about five years.

That means Elisha may need a third heart. Mrs Taylor said: "They anticipate the heart she has won't last her much longer."

Doctors in Bristol first noticed a heart murmur when Elisha was just three weeks old, and her heart was found to be back to front. She had her first major operation in August 2000 when she was six weeks old and at Christmas that year, Elisha's heart failed.

The family faced an agonising four-week wait while a donor was found. Mrs Taylor, who is married to Gary, said: "She was panting like a dog, and went grey. It was awful. They said she had a weak heart anyway and had contracted a virus, and on January 9 they decided she should be put on the transfer list."

Mrs Taylor added: "It was horrible. She was on the urgent list, but around that time there was a real decline in the number of hearts available. We seriously thought we weren't going to get one."

There was huge relief in the family when they heard they had a donor. Mrs Taylor said: "We had just got home from the Bristol hospital, and Gary had a call on his mobile saying they had found a suitable donor. We needed to be in London by 11am the next morning, so we had to drive there under police escort with Elisha in an ambulance.

"It was a huge relief to know she had a donor, but terrifying to think of her going through that operation.

"I was also terribly torn - I wanted to be at home with Matthew and Jemma, but also wanted to stay with Elisha."

Four times during her ten-week stint in intensive care, her parents were asked to sit with Elisha through the night because doctors thought she might not make it.

Mrs Taylor said: "But she came through it. She's a real little fighter." Since then, Elisha has grown into a happy little girl who takes her illness in her stride.

Elisha, who lives at home with her mum, her step-sister Jemma, 13, step-brother Matthew, 10, and Ryan, three, attends Sandy Lane Primary School in Caldicot, and in most ways is just like any other five-year-old, according to Mrs Taylor.

But she is immune deficient and often off school ill, and every six months has to go to Bristol or Great Ormond Street Hospital for check-ups. She has to take three types of medicine and go for regular check-ups in hospital. She's also not allowed any fatty food, and her mother has noticed she tires easily.

Mrs Taylor said of the future: "They anticipate the heart she has won't last her much longer, and if she has to go back on the transfer list I'll obviously be devastated.

"But she's come through so much. Now she's getting older she's becoming more aware and asking what the scars are on her, and we just tell her everything."