AT JUST three-days-old Olivia Morgan was rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital to receive emergency treatment for a condition that affects just ten children in the UK each year.

Now the Undy tot, who will turn two in December, is walking and talking normally and is the Welsh face of a new fundraising campaign for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Olivia was born on December 23, 2007 at the Royal Gwent Hospital.

But hours later her heart rate and breathing accelerated.

She was taken to the hospital's special care baby unit where a scan revealed she had suffered three strokes, had a heart murmur and a murmur in her head.

She was diagnosed with the potentially fatal condition Vein of Galen malformation on Boxing Day and with her heart failing badly was rushed to Great Ormond Street.

The condition means the capillaries which connect veins and arteries and slow blood flow down are missing.

This means blood flow can be fast, putting extra pressure on the heart.

Olivia underwent a special procedure to fill the extra sack of blood in her head and was placed in intensive care.

She finally went home on January 8.

Her mum Kate said: "We felt devastated and scared. We had to travel to London without Olivia because she went by ambulance - it was so hard leaving her."

Olivia has since returned to Great Ormond Street twice and doctors hope the vein has been sealed.

She will return to London again in January 2010 to see if the treatment worked.

Mrs Morgan said: "We were told every time she was treated it could be catastrophic. She nearly died the first time because of the strain on her heart."

Now Olivia is the Welsh face of HAIRraising - an appeal by the hairdressing industry to raise £1 million for operating theatres at Great Ormond Street, where she also receives treatment for a birthmark on her chin.

The appeal asks salons to fundraise and the Morgan family is asking Gwent salons to get involved.

The family raised £7,000 with a party, raffle and auction last year and is planning to hold another party in December.

To get involved with HAIRraising visit www.gosh.org/hair-raising or call 02072 393000.