EMILY Dodds and Harrison Corbin are bouncing babies - but they're battling with serious heart problems.

Now their mums are on a mission to raise cash for the charities which have supported their families through early months fraught with fear.

Fourteen-month-old Emily underwent open heart surgery nine days after she was born to repair holes in her heart.

Eight-month-old Harrison has a leaky main heart valve which will require surgery before he reaches school age. He has begun to go into heart failure twice, though has confounded doctors' predictions about his development.

Emily's mum, Katie Dodds, and Harrison's mum, Karlie Edwards, live just a few miles apart, in Newbridge and Abertillery respectively, and met through the charity HeartLine, which supports children with heart conditions and their families.

"Just knowing there are other people out there who understand what you go through when your child has a heart problem is fantastic," said Ms Edwards.

"I knew nothing about the heart and the problems children can have when Harrison was diagnosed and it was frightening. I was told Harrison would not thrive and he would need surgery, but he's doing really well.

"He will need an operation, probably before he starts school, but he's surviving with the help of his medication.

"We've had some anxious times.

"He gets breathless, and he's started to go into heart failure twice but he's come out of it in hospital.

"I met Katie through HeartLine, who have been fabulous, and so has the Children's Heart Federation, and so we've decided on a sponsored walk to raise money for them."

Which is why, on Saturday, Karlie, Katie and families and friends will be walking over the hills from Abertillery and through Abersychan and Pontypool into Cwmbran town centre, collection boxes rattling.

"It's quite a long way but it's worth it, because I don't know what we would have done without the support and advice we've had," said Ms Edwards.

"It's been a stressful time but we've been able to talk to each other when we needed a bit of comfort and support, and that is thanks to HeartLine and the Children's Heart Federation.