Tiny baby Daniel is little short of a miracle. He and his mother have defied the odds just by being alive

Mum Lisa Rogers, who has congenital heart disease, came close to death three years ago when her heart stopped beating twice and she has also endured a six-hour heart operation.

She later discovered the problems were caused by the fact she was 12 weeks pregnant - and the baby had not survived. Doctors were not sure if she would ever be able to have children.

But Lisa - who also survived heart surgery as a newborn baby - fought back again and fell pregnant just over a year after her operation.

Baby Daniel was born seven weeks early on January 23 in the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. At less than two months old he has already fought off jaundice and undergone a stomach operation.

Lisa, of Coke Street, Harwich, was 16 when she had her last check-up for the heart condition she had suffered since birth.

She said: "The doctor told me to go away and live my life - get married, have children."

She did and wed long-term boyfriend Colin five years ago. She fell pregnant in 1996.

But it was during Lisa's pregnancy her heart stopped twice - once at Colchester Hospital and then again after she was rushed to a London hospital.

It was discovered an artificial part put in Lisa's heart when she was five had worn out. Lisa, 30, was then fitted with a pacemaker but tragically the baby had died.

"It just wasn't meant to be - but Daniel was," she said.

Daniel Alastair is also the first baby to be born naturally to a congenital heart disease patient.

Lisa was due to stay in hospital for the last ten weeks of her pregnancy but Daniel had other ideas and came along in the third week of her stay.

He spent a fortnight in the London hospital and another two weeks in Colchester General Hospital before his parents took him home weighing a healthy 5lbs 7ozs.

And for Colin, 35, a chemical worker at the Exchem plant in Great Oakley, the relief at having his wife and child safely home is immense.

He said: "I was relieved although people told us not to worry we still did. It's great to have Daniel home."

Colin praised Lisa's "amazing bravery" and said she never complained through any of her illnesses.

"Lisa herself is a miracle she is here - at one time it was touch and go about whether she would make it. So to come from that to now, when we have a child, is nothing short of a miracle."

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