IF an adult's heart beats more than 300 times a minute it takes 10 seconds for them to die, but for little Cruz Atkinson it has happened more than 100 times.
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Each time his parents Rachel and James Atkinson, of Prospect, have had to watch, hoping their little baby survives.
"Every time he has one [episode] his body shuts down and he goes blue," Mrs Atkinson said.
"About 30 doctors would run into the room and they'd be working to get his heart normal again and we just have to stand back and wait."
Cruz was born on March 31, seven weeks premature, and he has since been diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a disease where an extra electrical charge makes the heart beat abnormally fast.
Mrs Atkinson was 32 weeks when she found out there was a difficulty, but she thought everything was normal.
The detection of an extremely high heart rate saw Mrs Atkinson transferred straight to the Monash Medical Centre in Victoria.
Two days later, she had an emergency caesarean, as doctors weren't sure if Cruz would make it.
Mr Atkinson was still in Launceston at the time and wasn't able to get on a flight until 5pm.
"But I was already in my C-section and Cruz was born at 5.15pm while James was still in the air," Mrs Atkinson said.
Cruz was taken away immediately so his heart rate could be stabilised.
Mr and Mrs Atkinson could finally meet their son together seven hours later.
They returned to Launceston soon after, thinking everything was fine and Hollie met her baby brother.
But at 30 days old, Cruz's heart rate skyrocketed again and he was flown to The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, where he was diagnosed with Wolff- Parkinson-White syndrome.
Tomorrow, Cruz will be 14 weeks old, and to his parents that is a miracle.
"He hasn't had any episodes (high heart rate) now for three weeks and when he was having 10 episodes a day that's a bit of a miracle," Mrs Atkinson said.
She said it was a good reminder to people to attend check-ups.
"You don't expect to have a sick baby, or a baby with a heart defect," she said.
"If we hadn't attended those check-ups we wouldn't have known that there was a baby in there that needed to be born immediately.
"It's the difference between life and death."
Mr and Mrs Atkinson will walk in their first Walk for Prems Day later this year to help raise awareness and support for others like them.
The walk will be held on Sunday, October 27, at Launceston's Royal Park.
