Baby born 10 weeks early and weighing just 2lbs beats odds to spend first Christmas at home

A tiny baby born 10 weeks early and weighing just 2lbs has beaten the odds to be allowed home for Christmas.

Little Theo Dawes gave his parents Vicky and Martin the best Christmas present ever when doctors told them the good news.

Vicky, 38, said: "It's a dream come true for both of us.

"After three miscarriages you really think that it won't happen, but Theo's home now and he's a little Christmas miracle."

Theo, who was due to be born on Christmas Day, arrived early and was so small he only weighed as much as a bag of flour.

He then spent seven weeks in hospital with breathing problems.

And his mum and dad, from Tyne and Wear, anxiously watched over him as he was looked after by staff at Sunderland Royal's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The brave youngster was kept in a special incubator and received respiratory care as a result of his lungs being premature and weak.

But he was finally allowed home on December 5 - just in time for his first Christmas.

Vicky said: "We are very grateful to the amazing staff of doctors and nurses for the care they have given to our son and the support they have given to both of us.

"Without them and the equipment they use there is a very strong possibility our little boy would not be here today."

Vicky and Martin have now launched a bid to raise more than £20,000 to buy a new incubator and equipment for the ward which cared for their son.

Dad Martin added: "All the staff at the Neonatal Unit of Sunderland Royal have been amazing, so the fundraising is to say a big thank you to them."

As well as the new incubator, the couple hope to raise enough funds to buy equipment such as heart rate and respiratory monitor and a transfusion machine which administers milk feed and antibiotics to sick babies.

Donate to the couple's Just Giving page here