IT will be smiles all round when miracle baby Chloe Jade Richardson celebrates her first birthday on Saturday.

Bubbly Chloe -- who weighed less than a bag of sugar when she was born three months premature -- has defied all odds and is now thriving and loving every minute of it.

Doctors were so sceptical when Kerry Richardson, aged 20, was rushed into hospital for an emergency Caesarean at just 26 weeks pregnant, that she was given a spinal epidural rather than a general anaesthetic and told it was so she would have the chance to see her baby just in case it died.

Heart surgery

But, to look at little Chloe you would never guess she weighed a mere 1lb 14oz, spent the first four months of her life in intensive care, underwent heart surgery in March and until a fortnight ago had to be fed through a tube.

Kerry, who lives with her parents Kath and Paul in Nel Pan Lane, Leigh, has dedicated her life to caring for Chloe, who is registered disabled.

She said: "When I was having her I didn't think she was going to survive. I couldn't hold her until she was three weeks old because of all the equipment she had around her. I'm so proud of her, she has been through so much but is still such a happy, placid baby."

When Chloe came home from hospital for the first time on Christmas Day she was on portable oxygen, which she needed until May. She has been fed through a tube, which Kerry had to pass through her nose. Little Chloe still has a hole in her heart and very weak lungs, but Kerry remains positive.

"She is by no means better, but she isn't any worse either. The tube coming off was a big step, but she is still on a trial period. I'm just hoping her heart and lungs develop in time, as she grows older they should grow stronger."

Having missed out on her early months, Chloe's development is slightly behind. She is more like a 7-month old than a 12-month old, but Kerry is convinced she is learning fast and doctors said by the time she is two she will have caught up with others the same age.

"She can't sit up or talk yet, but mentally I think she is at the right level. Since her heart operation in March she has come on leaps and bounds and you wouldn't know there is anything wrong with her."