A REAL-life water baby who had a life-saving operation when she was a few weeks old has helped to raise £500,000 for the British Heart Foundation.

Rosanna Ogden, aged three, was picked by the charity for its Little Hearts campaign because of her swimming talents, using her image and story to fundraise.

Rosanna was chosen with seven others to be part of Team BHF and her story has been brought to life online using stop motion photography.

Rosanna’s passion for the water started after she survived an eight-hour operation to remove a heart tumour when she was six weeks old.

She was told by doctors that swimming would help build up her strength, — and she took to it like a duck to water.

Mum Sally, aged 30, of Babylon Lane, Anderton, said: “I am so proud of Rosanna. I still can’t believe that she has managed to raise so much money.

“The foundation told us it wanted to use Rosanna as a case study for Little Hearts because of her swimming ability.

“They printed these posters of her that are 6ft tall and told us in this month we had to raise as much money as we could. The foundation also used her image and story to raise money.

“After a month of fundraising they got in touch and asked us to go to their head office in London where they said Rosanna had raised half-a-million pounds — we couldn’t believe it.”

Rosanna, who has nearly 600 likes on Facebook, has also raised more than £2,000 for the British Heart Foundation on her Just Giving page by doing sponsored swims across the country.

Barbara Dunn, of the foundation’s Lancashire fundraising volunteer manager, said: “Rosanna’s contribution to the fight for every heartbeat cannot be understated and it’s inspiring to see her get the recognition she deserves.”