Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Baby beats the odds to celebrate 1st birthday
Little fighter Milo overcomes life-threatening illness
A BABY born with a life-threatening illness that put him into ICU has beaten the odds to celebrate his first birthday.
Doctors said Milo Johnston was unlikely to survive after his parents were told he’d be born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.
The illness, which occurs in one in 2,500 people, was devastating news for his parents Karen Doherty and
Sean Johnston. The complicated birth defect causes a baby’s organs to move up into their chest cavity preventing the lungs from growing.
Sean said: “Milo was eventually born on May 20 2019, and we only saw him for a few moments before they had to take him to intensive care.
“The consultant came back to us and said they didn’t know if he was going to make it through the night and asked us if we wanted to get him baptised.
“From there we just spent as much time as we could with him in case he didn’t make it.
“It was only when Dr Sweet, who was our consultant, came back in the following morning around 7.30am that we got the first bit of good news that he was doing better.
“It was the longest night of our lives.”
Last week, after months of brave battles, including a setback which saw him travel to Royal Victoria Hospital, Milo celebrated his first birthday with his parents, who have been by his side the whole way.
Sean, from Derry, said: “We got him a couple of things for his big day, a day that we never thought to be honest that we would see but it’s brilliant.”
The family want to highlight the important work CDH UK has done for them.
If you would like to donate to CDH UK, you can visit its website.