A truly uplifting tale

In the world of medicine doctors are often called upon to try the unexpected but with little Lewis Goodfellow, born premature at 24 weeks and weighing only 1lb 8 ounces he truly was given a stimulating prescription which appears to have saved his life.



The little boy had lung failure and was struggling to get oxygen into his bloodstream so the doctors at Newcastle Royal Infirmary tried something drastic - they gave him Viagra, more usually of course associated with a remedy for people of my age - and for an entirely different purpose!

It is often forgotten that Viagra -or Sildenafil to give it its medical name - was originally developed as a treatment for angina , its propensities to cure erectile dysfunction being discovered as a side benefit. In the case of little Lewis, small blood vessels in the heart were opened up so the little boy could take oxygen into his bloodstream.

Now his grateful parents, who had been preparing for the baby's funeral, have their little lad well on the way to full recovery. It is a terrific story of doctor's using the unorthodox and getting a result.