'˜Miracle' baby celebrates first birthday

Nellie Rose Seddon spent months in hospital under the watchful eyes of a number of doctors, none of whom were able to diagnose what was wrong with her or what had caused her to collapse.

Her parents, Leona O’Malley and Gareth Seddon, of Anderton Street, Ince, said there were times when they didn’t think Nellie was going to make it.

But on Sunday, they were able to throw a huge party for Nellie to celebrate her first birthday, along with big sister Lily, four, and baby brother, one-month-old Tommy.

Nellie was born by an emergency caesarian on August 7, 2015, but just four days later, Leona noticed she was breathing too quickly and she was rushed to A&E at Wigan Infirmary where she collapsed.

Despite only being there for just over an hour before being transferred to Alder Hey, Leona and Gareth were told the actions of the staff at Wigan saved their little girl’s life.

Leona, 23, said: “A heart doctor came in from home to Wigan hospital to do a scan and he helped save her. Her veins had collapsed as well but thanks to him they were able to save her.

“Even so they told us to say goodbye to her before she went in the ambulance to Alder Hey in case she didn’t make it.

“She was then in Alder Hey for about three months.

“She was undiagnosed for ages, they couldn’t find anything wrong with her. They did so many tests like a muscle biopsy.

“We had to wait for 12 weeks for the results of a test to see if she had a mitochondrial disease and they told us if she had that she wouldn’t live long.

“That was the worst bit, when they said if she had this disease she wouldn’t live very long.

“We have to wait months for the results but she didn’t have it.”

Nellie is still undiagnosed and despite undergoing heart surgery, the doctors do not believe the problem with her heart caused her to collapse.

As she gets older, her doctors at Wigan Infirmary will be able to carry out more tests in the hope of finding out what did cause her to collapse.

Gareth said: “We met all different kinds of teams, metabolic teams, genetic teams, top doctors from Manchester.

“We got told for weeks upon weeks to give up on her but we didn’t want to - we wanted to fight.

“There were times when I didn’t think she would make it. We want to thank everyone in Wigan A&E because they don’t get enough thanks.”

While being treated at Alder Hey, Nellie became the first patient to be transferred to the new hospital built on the site.

“She was the first patient in the new hospital,” Gareth said.

“They pushed her through tunnels and when we got to intensive care all the doctors were there waiting for her and cheered her in.

“Really she is just a miracle baby. She didn’t open her eyes for about eight weeks.”

Leona added: “They said she is a little bit of history.

“She is still not 100 per cent better. She is funny with her eating and has to have milk through a syringe.

“We didn’t think she would make it to her first birthday so we wanted to make sure it was special and hold a big party for her to celebrate.”