A MIRACLE baby born 16 weeks early weighing just 1lb 6oz has defied all the odds to celebrate his first birthday.

Like any other one-year-old, little Samuel Maple celebrated his special day with a slice of cake surrounded by his loving family.

But for his parents, who were more than once told to say their goodbyes to their son, this was a day they feared they might never see.

Samuel – a first child for Vicky and Ben Maple from Bournemouth – was born in Portsmouth. At just 23 plus six weeks gestation – one day shy of the legal abortion limit – doctors gave him only a 50/50 chance of survival.

“He had tubes in his mouth, nose, legs and belly button. His legs were bruised and you could see through his skin to his tiny veins,” said Vicky, 26. “He would easily have fitted into the palm of my hand. It was so traumatic it was all a bit of a blur, but we took each step as it came – we had hope right from the start.”

The day after he was born hospital staff saved his life when he had a bleed on his brain and his lungs collapsed. Doctors discovered he had an open duct in his heart – for which later he underwent surgery.

On day 12 he was rushed to Southampton NICU for urgent surgery after his belly turned dark blue and enlarged due to a hole in his gut for which he needed urgent surgery.

Surgeons operated when he was just under two weeks old, still weighing 1lb 6oz, and his parents were told – not for the last time – that he wouldn’t pull through.

Samuel was 34 days old when he came off a ventilator and Vicky held him for the first time – the “most precious and happiest moment of my life”, she said. “I was petrified I was going to hurt him and crying like a baby – but so happy. I didn’t think it would ever happen.”

Samuel battled his way through a serious blood infection and episodes when his heart beats dangerously slow.

At the beginning of June he was found to have a serious eye condition – requiring urgent laser eye surgery to stop his retina detaching leaving him blind.

Finally he was transferred to Poole Hospital, where he remained for a further four weeks later, until, one day after his due date, Samuel was allowed home on oxygen – a “blissful” moment for his parents who “finally had him where he belongs”.

Vicky added: “He’s very strong minded but so happy as well. When he was first born one of the doctors said he was feisty, and he has been - without that I don’t know if he would be here."

Vicky and her cousin Laura Meller are raising money for Southampton NICU with a sponsored abseil down Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower on April 18. To sponsor them visit https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/supersamuel and to read more about Samuel visit https://samuelsstory.wordpress.com/