WITH each week tiny baby Ashtyn continues to defy the odds and grow in strength.

John Howard

WITH each week tiny baby Ashtyn continues to defy the odds and grow in strength.

Just seven weeks ago he was born 14 weeks premature weighing just two pounds, now he's tipping the scales at almost four pounds.

For such a tiny baby, Ashtyn Cole certainly made a big entrance in the world.

His mother Leah Thompson, 17, from Stowmarket, developed serious complications during her pregnancy and was taken from West Suffolk Hospital in Bury by an RAF helicopter 80 miles to a specialist hospital in Kent.

When Ashtyn was born medics spent 20 minutes trying to resuscitate him before he was transferred to the intensive care unit at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

His desperate parents were forced to stay in a caravan in Kent to avoid the 130 mile trip from their Suffolk home.

Three weeks ago the brave tot was finally transferred to West Suffolk Hospital, where he remains in an incubator, but is breathing on his own.

His parents, who can now see him everyday, are even hoping he'll be home by the New Year.

Miss Thompson, a former Great Cornard Upper School pupil in Sudbury, said: “He has gained loads of weight and is having bottles now.

“He is doing really well. He still has to gain strength, but it's amazing how well he has done.”

Her 19-year-old partner Ricky Cole, from Rougham, added: “He is beautiful and we love him to bits.

“One of his lungs collapsed about two weeks ago, and we have had some sleepless nights with worry.

“But he us doing well now and we may take him home for the New Year and everyone at the hospital has been wonderful and kept us informed of what is happening.

“Ashtyn has got such a cute face and loves to spread his hands out. I think he even looks like me.”