A ‘LITTLE miracle’ suffering from a potentially fatal condition has defied doctors’ odds to play Mary in her nursery's Nativity play.

Charley-Marie Skinner’s parents Heather and Andy were advised to consider an abortion after large growths were found in their unborn baby in a 20-week antenatal scan.

They discovered a tumour covering the entire left chamber of the child’s heart, which was expected to restrict blood flow.

But the couple decided to give Charley-Marie a chance and now, aged three, the youngster has been chosen to play the main role in the Nativity play at Les Enfants nursery, in Darwen.

Charley-Marie’s mum Heather said: “She was wonderful and she absolutely loved it.

“She was really sweet and she had been singing all of the songs for weeks building up to the show.

“It is unbelievable because the doctors told us she was not meant to be here.

“It was very emotional.

“She is our little miracle.”

Charley-Marie’s elder sister Emma-Jean, six, was only diagnosed with the same condition, Tuberous Sclerosis, after the whole family was tested.

She has two small tumours in her heart as well as one in her brain, which have to be carefully monitored.

Heather, who has four other children, Alfie, Jennifer and twins Jessica and James, said she was thrilled that Charley-Marie and Emma-Jean were now doing well.

The 29-year-old hairdressing student, who lives in the Sunnyhurst area of Darwen, said: “The girls had a brain scan in the summer and it did not show anything to worry about at all, which is absolutely brilliant.

“Charley-Marie is doing amazingly well.

“She is doing so well at nursery and she is very intelligent.

“You would not think there was anything wrong at all.

“There is nothing at all she cannot do.”