SHE may have been born with five holes in her heart, but teenager Helen Spokes hasn't let that hold her back.

The 13-year-old has just completed the 800m race in her school sports day and has inspired her classmates to raise more than £800 for a local charity.

Helen, of Curlew Road, Bournemouth, was just 10 days old when she was diagnosed with atrial septal defect and put in the care of Southampton General Hospital's cardiac unit.

"She started with a cough and a GP listened to her heart and said she had a heart murmur," said Helen's mum Angela, 47. "They sent her to Poole and then straight to Southampton. She was a very poorly, sickly baby, never put on a lot of weight."

Helen was monitored every six months until she was six, when doctors decided to fit a special device to fix the problem.

"Then it was tenterhooks time," said Angela, who is also mum to James, 29, David, 11, and Peter, three. "They said if they felt the device wouldn't work it would mean open heart surgery. We were really, really lucky."

Helen was fitted with a cardiac catheterisation which covered the holes and is now monitored every two years.

But not all youngsters are so lucky, with many needing lengthy stays at the cardiac unit.

Helen, a pupil at Bournemouth School for Girls, decided she wanted to help those teenagers.

"Every year in our house we raise money for charity and I asked my head of house if we could do Wessex Heartbeat this year," she said. "We did a disco, a cake and teddy bear sale and the Smartie tube challenge. We sold people Smarties tubes and they brought back the tube filled with coins.

"We raised £845 and they're going to use it to help fund a ward for the teenagers because they're fed up with being with all the Bob the Builder toys."

Wessex Heartbeat's chief executive D'Arcy Myers said she was thrilled with the money.

"The money will be put towards making the stay of young adolescents in the cardiac unit more comfortable. I can't thank them enough for their hard work."