A girl recovering from heart surgery was among youngsters awarded medals for raising money for charity.

Marie Rogers, 12, who was born with a hole in her heart, was given her award and a shield by the British Heart Foundation for fund-raising, along with her brother James and fellow pupil Anita Ramanan.

The youngsters all took part in the annual sponsored Heart of Sussex Walk last June, where Marie and James raised £220 and Anita raised £130.

The children were given their awards during assembly at St Wilfred's Primary School, London Road, Burgess Hill, on Friday, where ten-year-olds James and Anita are pupils.

The presentation had to be postponed in December when Marie went into hospital to have a valve replaced in her heart.

For Marie, completing the 13-mile walk is her way of saying thank you to the charity, as she is living proof of its work.

The schoolgirl was born with a congenital heart defect which causes a series of abnormalities, including a hole between the two bottom chambers and narrowing of the pulmonary artery.

At just ten and a half months old, Marie underwent six hours of open heart surgery.

The operation was successful, though her parents were told she might need a valve replaced as she grew.

Six months ago, Marie's parents noticed she was becoming breathless climbing stairs and found it hard to run.

By November her condition was dramatically worse so she was taken to hospital.

In December, she was admitted to Guy's Hospital in London for monitoring, as it was discovered she had an abnormal heart rhythm, which can be life-threatening.

Marie spent three weeks in the children's ward, including Christmas Day, where she had an operation to replace the valve in her heart.

Thankfully Marie is now on the road to recovery and is more determined than ever to keep doing the sponsored walks.

Her mother Anne Rogers said: "She is much better but is still taking it easy.

"It takes about three months to recover from open heart surgery as they have to break the breast bone.

"Thanks to these operations, Marie has been able to live a completely normal life."