Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
We gave Mylah the middle name Hope and she defied the odds.. she’s our miracle
Premature tot celebrates her first healthy Christmas
THE parents of a “miracle” baby who weighed just a pound-and-ahalf when she was born four months premature have celebrated their first healthy Christmas with her.
When Mylah O’hara arrived at 25 weeks after a traumatic birth, with her heart restarting just as doctors were contemplating if she had died, her family agreed there was only one fitting middle name for their firstborn.
Mum Leah said: “We gave her Hope as a middle name as we were always going on hope.
“When she was born it had to be Mylah Hope, because it was always ‘we hope, we hope, we hope’.”
The now healthy 16-monthold is one of six remarkable babies featuring in a new fundraising campaign by Tiny Life.
Leah, 25, recounted the moment a doctor told her Mylah’s heart was not responding immediately after birth.
The nurse said: “He came over to us and said, ‘We are going to have to stop working with her, her heart’s not responding, she’s not going to do’.
“We were screeching, ‘Don’t stop, don’t stop’. But then her heart started responding and they said we are going to have to take her away and work on her in ICU.”
It was six hours before the couple from Bangor, Co Down, were allowed to see her again.
Leah said: “They told us they didn’t think she was going to survive the first night, it was really touch and go.
“The next day she turned a corner and she was like a completely different baby. They said she defied the odds – she’s a complete miracle.”
Mylah would go on to spend three months in hospital, first the Royal Victoria and then the Ulster.
During that time she suffered a number of health setbacks, developing sepsis and a serious bowel condition.
Leah said: “It was literally one step forward, 10 steps back, one step forward, 10 steps back.”
The grateful mum added she and husband James, 29, could not thank the medical staff enough.
Leah said: “They were absolutely fantastic and we literally praise them every single day because they don’t get enough praise for what they do and they are definitely not paid enough.
“If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t
BANGOR, CO DOWN
have Mylah today, definitely not.” And Leah said she was honoured Mylah had been asked to appear on Tiny Life’s billboards.
She added: “I would do anything to help them out, because they have helped us out.
“At the time you kind of felt you are on your own. I had friends who had normal term babies and no one knows what you are going through unless you have been through it too.
“So that was quite difficult, that you didn’t really have anyone to talk to who knew what you were going through.
“But Tiny Life did, they have been working there and supporting people for years.”
Mylah’s remarkable progress over the last year means the family approached this year’s festive season in unusually high spirits.
Leah said: “Even now we look back at photos and think, ‘My goodness, is that really her?’”
For more information on Tiny Life or to support the charity’s work visit www. tinylife.org.uk or check out its Facebook and Twitter pages.