A Gillingham toddler has made medical history after being kept alive for 251 days with an artificial heart - longer than any other child in the UK.

Joe Skerratt spent nine months attached to a machine called a 'Berlin heart' which helped his real heart continue to pump blood around his body while he waited for a life saving transplant.

Shortly after he was born, Joe was diagnosed with a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy which causes the heart to stretch and leaves the organ unable to function properly.

His condition rapidly deteriorated in December 2010 when he started showing signs of heart failure and after surviving three cardiac arrests, Joe was finally connected to his artificial heart at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Now, after more than a total of 320 days in hospital, the three-year-old is back at home with parents Mark and Rachel after having a transplant.

His mum Rachel, 32, said: "We are eternally grateful to the donor family. We cannot imagine what they went through. Their generosity of thought at such a horrendous time is completely selfless and amazing.

"Organ donation is a topic everyone should discuss. It is not just those with conditions present from birth who end up needing transplants. Some children, like Joe, will become very sick, very quickly."

Following his successful surgery, Joe was welcomed home with his favourite pizza dinner as a celebration.

His consultant at Great Ormond street was Dr Alessandro Giardini: "We are really delighted to see Joe doing so well and thriving at home. He spent a long time with us in hospital.

"Joe was very lucky to be able to have a heart transplant. There is a chronic shortage of donor organs for children in the UK and at any one time we have several children in the hospital awaiting a transplant. Lots of children wait years for an organ to become available and can very sadly die while they are doing so."

Great Ormond Street Hospital is the largest centre for cardiothoracic transplantation in the UK, and one of the largest in Europe.

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register