A BABY girl born with a life-threatening heart defect and who also suffered extreme liver failure has beaten all the odds to survive.

The mother of Sophie Margaret Baylis said doctors had fought 'hour by hour' to keep her alive.

Doctors said Sophie's liver failure was the worst they had ever seen.

But the courageous toddler is now about to celebrate her first birthday and is looking at a normal life.

Amanda Baylis, 31, from Rawtenstall, said: "Everyone was amazed. She really is my little miracle.”

Little Sophie was born last May with a catalogue of heart problems and a cleft palate.

She was diagnosed with Truncus Arteriosus type three when she was just two weeks old, meaning her heart was not pumping blood to her organs properly.

Amanda, of Holland Avenue, said: “When I found out my whole world came crashing down.

"I was absolutely devastated. Sophie is my world. From the moment I got pregnant I wanted her despite knowing I would be a single mum bringing her up on my own.”

Two weeks after she was born, a nurse visited their home to check on Sophie and saw her skin turning blue.

She was rushed to Royal Blackburn Hospital and then transferred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital where she was diagnosed with the condition, which affects one in every 6000 babies.

Doctors discovered she had a hole in her heart, it was not connected to her left lung and she only had one heart artery instead of two.

She underwent major heart surgery to repair her heart at just five weeks old.

The operation was successful but due to the strain on Sophie’s little heart, doctors were only able to complete half the procedure.

In February this year, when she was just nine months old, she had another operation.

But following a complication Sophie had to be fitted with a pacemaker to ensure her heart continued to beat regularly.

Just three days after her second operation Sophie collapsed and was rushed to the intensive care unit with liver failure.

Amanda, a human resources manager, said: “When she collapsed doctors told me they had never seen a case of liver failure so severe in a child.

"I thought that was it. I just couldn’t understand how we had come through so much to be hit by this.

“But after a week and half sedated on a ventilator Sophie started fighting back and getting better.

“Everyone was amazed. She really is my little miracle.”

As Sophie improved she was taken off the ventilator and was treated for morphine withdrawal and MRSA.

She returned home this week just four weeks before her first birthday on May 9.

Amanda said: “Having Sophie home is amazing. It gets so difficult living in a hospital. I find myself just wanting to cuddle her all the time.

“Sophie is a feisty, brave and intelligent little girl who can now look forward to a relatively normal life.

"She will have to be careful with sports but she should be able to do everything she wants.

“ I cannot thank the doctors at Alder Hey and Blackburn, the community nurses, dieticians, staff at Derian House and my family, friends and neighbours enough.

“Without all their support Sophie would not be here today.

"We are now looking forward to doing all those things mothers and babies take for granted, like going to the park.”

Sophie’s condition has improved so much that she will start nursery in September at Stepping Stones in Haslingden.

Amanda is still receiving regular support from the community nurses at Derian House, in Chorley, who she plans to raise cash for in the future.

Sophie will celebrate her first birthday on May 9 with a special party at home.