A DAD who watched his infant son undergo a heart transplant has made the leap and opened his own business in Runcorn to have more time for his family.

Carl Pratt, 34 launched his business, Octave Design Services, last year in The Heath Business and Technical Park.

His main inspiration for setting up the company was when his son Charlie was taken seriously ill in 2017 with a form of heart disease that would require a heart transplant.

Life for Carl and his wife Alison, who was also pregnant expecting twins, was put on hold following Charlie’s diagnosis and they moved into accommodation provided by The Sick Children’s Trust to be at his bedside during the wait for a donor.

The twins, Lizzy and Rosie, were born in January 2018 and one month later Charlie underwent a successful heart transplant.

Carl, who had previously been working as a contractor, decided opening his own business would be the best way to have more time with his wife and children.

He said: “I thought about going back working as a contractor but in the end decided that I needed the flexibility of being my own boss and developing a business where I could be working close to home and to be around when my family needs me.”

Carl, along with Bob Eastburn, launched Octave Design Services as a small engineering consultancy working directly with their own clients from offices based at The Heath and it is going from strength to strength.

Carl added: “Our world was literally tuned upside down in October 2017 but now Charlie’s doing brilliantly and taking the risk of setting up a business is really starting to pay off.”