One year ago, baby Sofia was born more than three months early and doctors gave her scant chance of survival.

Since then she has endured 15 blood transfusions and major heart surgery, and suffered chronic lung and kidney failure, and bleeding on the brain.

Yet in this picture she looks like any other healthy baby girl. Proud parents Becky Meecham and Steven Vercesi, from Apple Walk, Heath Hayes, near Cannock, are only too aware that she has beaten all odds just to make it to her first birthday on Saturday.

At one point Sofia’s weight fell to just a pound – less than a regular loaf of bread– and doctors called in a priest to baptise her as her survival hopes dwindled to almost nil.

Becky, aged 35, said: “Consultants have been stunned. Almost every last thing that could have gone wrong has gone wrong, but she kept on fighting. Everything life has thrown at her she has somehow survived.

“The birth was a horrible experience. We discovered that my body couldn’t cope with carrying a baby and at, one point, both of our lives were in danger. I would have died to save my girl, but doctors told me I would be given priority. It’s a horrific situation.

“One thing we discovered a was that there isn’t a lot of support or reassurance.”