Aged 16, it is fair to say that Sophi Barton has been through the wars.

Suspected meningitis, an infection that caused a giant abscess to form in her heart, and then suffering three cardiac arrests was probably more than enough for one lifetime.

And then, after a remarkable life-saving operation, she suffered a stroke and a collapsed lung.

Today, she is back home taking her first tentative steps on the long road to recovery but she is expected to make a full recovery.

Her story is remarkable for many reasons and highlights why we are lucky to live in a county renowned for its medical excellence.

When procedures to repair her damage heart didn’t work, Prof Stephen Westaby used a piece of equipment — an artificial heart pump — given to the John Radcliffe Hospital by the Abingdon charity Young Hearts. Her mother thinks that had Sophi lived elsewhere else in the country, she would have died.

While we don’t know that for sure, what we do know is that Sophi and the tens of thousands of people treated and cared for by surgeons, doctors, nurses and physios in Oxfordshire should count their blessings that we have some of the best brains in the business here.

And they should never be taken for granted.