FATE has dealt a pretty tough hand for little Leon-Roy Haggerty as Star readers will recall from an earlier page one story.

But the baby son of an ex-Great Britain and Saints rugby favourite has shown that, like his dad, Roy, he can tackle anything, after surviving a chain of heart operations during the first 20 months of his life. But now the tot and his mum and dad really have something to smile about after little Leon won our very own Star Mother and Baby contest at Sherdley Park on Sunday.

The tiny battler, who featured in a leading story in the Star last October when he miraculously celebrated his first birthday after being born with half a heart, has once again delighted his proud parents and doctors at Alder Hey Hospital by bouncing back to health just six weeks after another open heart operation.

In spite of having just left Alder Hey after undergoing surgery for first stage Fontan repair and pulmonary structure repair, Leon is already a picture of health and knocked out the judges to win our ever popular Mother and Baby competition at the St Helens Show with mum, Wendy Smith who said: "Leon is so strong to have survived everything he has been through and even now, just a few weeks after his last operation he is already really happy and healthy."

But Leon's battle is not over as he will need more surgery on a regular basis until he is about 10 years old when he will have a heart and lung transplant. Leon also needs to use a Coagucheck Heart Monitor every day to check the amount of Warfarin in his blood stream, which could prove fatal if not correct.

Wendy continued: "Leon needs to use a heart monitor on a daily basis for the rest of his life and at the moment we have to travel to Liverpool every day for his treatment, so it would be a great help to have the machine at home."

But because the heart monitor, which costs £600, cannot be provided by the Health Service, Wendy and Roy have set up a fund to help with the cost of the machine and will donate the remaining money they raise to the Ronald McDonald House at Alder Hey, where they spent a lot of time while Leon was in hospital.

And the first fundraising event will be a Variety Night at the Haydock Cricket Club on Saturday September 15 at 7pm. Tickets are priced £1 and there will be a disco, karaoke, an auction and a raffle.

If you would like to make a donation to the Leon-Roy Haggerty Heart Monitor Fund or if you can help with raffle prizes, you can contact the treasurer of the committee, Mr Skelton at 14 Sherlock Avenue in Haydock. All donations, large or small are welcome.