LITTLE Phoebe Davies, the Deal girl who underwent a heart operation in Canada in December, is battling for survival after being rushed to a London hospital.

Today her grandmother, Patricia Meredith, said: "Her fight for life is not over and we are now playing a waiting game."

Her story has moved readers of the East Kent Mercury at Deal since September and after the newspaper launched the Friends of Phoebe appeal, her parents took her to Canada for a vital life-saving operation.

After appearing to be making a full recovery, the sudden setback was prompted by a routine check-up last Thursday. Within days she was transferred to London's Royal Brompton Hospital where surgeons immediately started discussing her condition with doctors in Toronto.

Providing Phoebe was fit enough, it was hoped an operation could have taken place tomorrow and the survival rate was quoted at between 30-50 per cent.

In a special message from the ward, her mother, Ruth Davies, of Lydia Road, Deal, asked people to pray for Phoebe, who will be two in August.

Mrs Meredith, of Owen Square, Walmer, added: "She needs her aortic value replaced again, needs an aortic arch and has ischaemia in her left ventricle. That condition was caused by being starved of oxygen due to respiratory arrest, probably within the past week."

The worried grandmother said her daughter Ruth and son-in-law Kevin are constantly by their daughter's bedside. Mrs Meredith has appealed to members of the public not to phone the hospital for condition checks.