With his cheeky smile and infectious giggle, little Cooper Anderson is like any other healthy baby.
But the brave toddler was given only a 50% chance of survival when he was born nine weeks early with his stomach, bowel and spleen in his chest.
His abdominal wall muscle failed to develop properly in the womb, allowing the organs to rise up and crush his tiny heart and lungs.
This meant that Cooper, who is now 14 months old, was struggling to breathe as soon as he was born and needed life-saving surgery at a day old.
During the risky procedure, surgeons had to pull the abdominal organs back into their correct position and sew up the large hole in his diaphragm.
But after just three days on a ventilator and 12 days in intensive care, he defied medics and was home within five-and-a-half weeks.
And his proud mother, Helen, 35, from Peterhead describes him as “a little miracle”.
She said: “When they told me, it was a huge shock. I haven’t cried so much in all my life, because we thought our little boy wasn’t going to make it.
“They told us he had a 50% chance of survival and, if he did survive, wouldn’t have good lungs because the left lung gets squashed.
“But he had x-rays last month and you wouldn’t even know that he had it.”
Mrs Anderson and husband Kevin, a semi-skilled labourer, were delighted when she became pregnant with their second child.
But Mrs Anderson, who is also mum to Olly, eight, began suffering severe stomach pains and started to bleed.
She said: “I called Peterhead maternity unit and they told me to go straight to Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, and said I was in labour.
“They couldn’t stop it, so I had to have him nine weeks early.”
Cooper was then transferred from the neonatal unit at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital to the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital for major surgery the next morning.
Mrs Anderson added: “He was absolutely tiny. He wasn’t even as long as my forearm, and he was away from us for five hours.
“We were totally numb and couldn’t wait to get him back. It was the longest five hours of our lives.”
Doctors warned the couple there was a possibility their son’s condition could worsen. But he thrilled his parents when he was finally allowed home.
Mrs Anderson said: “He’s definitely a fighter. The nurses in the neonatal unit were just amazing.
“We are forever grateful to all the nurses, consultants and Cooper’s surgeon for helping Cooper get to where he is today.”
