A BABY who doctors said would die in the womb or be severely handicapped has defied medical experts by being born perfectly healthy.

Elijah Brown has mystified consultants after a massive, potentially fatal cyst - a cystic hygroma - on the back of his neck disappeared, four weeks after a scan confirmed doctors' fears that it was growing.

Mother Deborah Gudgeon, 36, from Earcroft, Darwen, who turned down doctors when they offered her the option of an abortion, put the remarkable transformation down to the power of prayer.

A medical expert said it was rare for a cystic hygroma to disappear but said there could be another explanation, such as a wrong diagnosis.

Thirteen weeks into the pregnancy, Deborah was told that her baby had a 75 to 90 per cent chance of dying in the womb.

If these cysts occur they point towards brain damage or other disabilities in the child.

A secondary scan two weeks later showed that the condition had worsened and one of the options Deborah faced was abortion.

However, she chose to rely on her faith in God, and parishioners at her church - Christ Church with Cannon Street, Accrington - began praying for her fifth child.

A further scan four weeks later showed the cyst had disappeared.

Deborah, a former midwife in Blackburn, said: "My family was devastated when I was told what was wrong.

"I researched all the abnormalities suggested and tried to assess if we could live with a child so afflicted, and how it would affect the lives of our other children.

"I cried constantly and my only peace was when I prayed. I was afraid and confused.

"But somehow Elijah hung on."

Deborah's parents, Maurice and Cath Gudgeon, of Buxton Street, Accrington, began asking for prayer at church.

One of the church members also went round and prayed with her and laid her hands on her stomach.

Deborah added: "The consultant obstetrician gave me a no-holds-barred opinion that the hygroma was significant, and was septated, the worst kind.

"In other words, the baby was unlikely to survive nine months pregnancy, or would survive but could have severe genetic abnormalities ranging from Down's syndrome at best, or at worst, Patau's or Robert's syndrome, which are sadly so severe they are incompatible with life.

"He suggested termination of pregnancy and indicated that most women chose to have an abortion with these findings.

"A week later a further scan by an expert sonographer was performed who confirmed a multi-septated hygroma, the worst kind ."

Deborah praised the staff for going to extremes to help her.

They next sent her to St. Mary's Hospital in Manchester, where another scan was taken.

But she said: "The obstetric neurologist and expert sonographer performed a detailed scan and found that the hygroma had gone."

Deborah was still concerned that there would be problems but when Elijah was born four months ago he just had a small flap of skin on the back of his neck, which is reducing as he grows.

A spokesman for East Lancashire NHS Trust said: "She had her first scan on August 14 and the abnormality was noticed. Because of this she had another one on September 1.

"Four weeks later she had another scan and it looked healthy.

"It's normal procedure to offer abortion in cases were the baby appears to have serious disabilities."

The Lancashire Telegraph's health expert Dr Tom Smith said he had never personally encountered a case like this.

He said: "This is a very strange case.

"This could have been an enlarged sweat gland that has filled up with fluid and then the big cyst has appeared but in time the fluid has dispersed.

"It may also have been a cyst on the amniotic membrane that covers the baby in the womb. They could have mistaken that.

"If a child is born with cystic hygroma it would not be fair on the child or mother because the child would not live, it would be without a brain essentially.

"They do go away naturally in the womb in rare cases but nobody knows why."

Rev Kevin Logan, vicar of Christ Church in Accrington, said parishioners had prayed for Deborah and that Elijah's birth was the outcome that God chose for him.

Deborah said she was driven to prayer because she felt she had run out of options'.

She said: "I cried constantly and my only peace was when I prayed. But I was afraid and confused.

"I read the Bible loads and felt I was being told to take it literally, something I'd never managed to do."

But when Elijah was born healthy she became convinced.

She said: "I knew it was a miracle and part of God's plan to show all of us his power, if we put our trust in him.

"Elijah is a message to have faith in the power of the Lord, and that we should be aware of the gifts of the Holy Spirit has given to us, gifts like healing."