Lttle fighter Benjamin celebrates 1st birthday

Dec 28 2009 by Vicky Robson, The Journal

LITTLE Benjamin Helyer’s life hung in the balance after he was born almost four months prematurely.

He weighed just 2lb 1oz – less than a bag of sugar – and spent 14 weeks in an incubator at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, before mother Melissa could finally take him home.

The baby needed three major operations within weeks of his birth and Melissa faced an agonising wait in the hospital’s special care baby unit to see if Benjamin would bounce back.

But now the bubbly youngster looks a picture of health as he celebrates his first birthday at his home in County Durham.

Melissa, of Pentland Court in Chester-le-Street, says it is a day that she thought she would never see after Benjamin’s early arrival.

The thrilled 36-year-old said: “He is just amazing. He has gone from strength to strength. The doctors are really pleased with him, which is great.

“He really is my little soldier and after everything he has been through, it is such a relief to know that he is quite healthy now.”

Benjamin was due to be born on April 7, 2009, but arrived at just 26 weeks when Melissa went into labour three days after Christmas 2008.

He was born in Sunderland Royal Hospital and was transferred to the RVI in Newcastle a week later.