'Shady knew she'd die young ... but she just got on with her life'

A GIRL who was hailed as a miracle baby after being given just three weeks to live has died at the age of 18.

STRONG: Shady Fox beat medical predictions to reach adulthood

Cheyenne Fox, known to all as Shady, was born with a major heart defect in 1992 but made headline news after responding to pioneering treatment by one of the world's leading surgeons.

Her father, Robert, of Craigentinny, today paid tribute to his daughter, who had gone on to live a relatively normal life and had just begun a college course at the time of her sudden death.

"She surprised everyone by living as long as she did, but I wish I still had her here with me, although I suppose it's not to be," he said.

"Shady always knew she was going to die young but didn't live her life any differently from anyone else." Aged just ten weeks, and facing a 25 per cent success rate, little Shady underwent a risky six-hour operation at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex. It was led by world-famous physician Professor Magdi Yacoub, who performed intricate surgery to rewire the veins in her heart correctly.

She then spent eight days in intensive care after friends and family rallied round to raise 1000 to pay for special in-hospital accommodation. Three months later, the infant came through a second operation to seal a hole in her heart, for which she needed life support.

By reaching adulthood, she eclipsed even the most optimistic medical predictions, but that did not lessen her family's pain when she died at home. More than 200 mourners turned out for her funeral on December 20.

On the day she died, Shady complained of feeling cold and her lips had tinged slightly blue. Her breathing had also become shallower.

"I came home that night and was told she was not feeling very well. At about 4.30am we were talking away but she was breathing very fast. I went to get her some diluting juice and she went up to the toilet.

"Then I heard her shouting 'Dad, help me'. When I came through from the kitchen she had just collapsed on to the bathroom floor."

Since his daughter's death, Mr Fox has barely visited his home on Loganlea Drive because he says it feels empty. He is still mourning the loss of his wife, Arlene, who died within three months of a diagnosis for liver cancer in 2008.

A week before Shady died, Mr Fox had been released from hospital following treatment for a hole in the heart.

"I feel like I have been robbed," he said. "Shady was the youngest of six so it's their wee sister and they are all devastated. But I have been getting messages of support from all over the place."

Shady attended Craigentinny Primary School and Leith Academy. She had just started a new job at Sainsbury's in St Andrew Square and was attending Stevenson College.

Local councillor Ewan Aitken is among those to pay tribute to the popular teenager.

He said: "She was a founder member of the Craigentinny Youth Initiative, involved in Guides and other youth activities. She had this incredible capacity to make folk feel she was genuinely interested in them, whatever their age. For Shady, when those around her were happy, she was happy."