Tiny Blackpool baby was given just five per cent chance of survival but this week he celebrates his third birthday

Jase-James McCready Rogers was tiny when he was born on January 5 2020 because he arrived just 23 weeks into his mum’s pregnancy.

Worried mum Leah Rogers, who thought she was having a miscarriage, was told by staff at Blackpool Victoria Hospital that little Jase had just a five per cent chance of survival.

Tiny Jase weighed just 1.1lbs - about the same as a block of butter or a tin of beans - and suffered from two brain bleeds and a hole in his heart.

He was rushed to Royal Preston Hospital, where he was put on life support and ended up staying two months, with machines keeping him alive, before being transferred to Blackpool Vic where he was kept on oxygen for weeks – and he then had to go to Liverpool Hospital to save his eyesight.

To say the little mite went through the wars is an understatement.

However, fast forward three years and the little fighter is thriving at home with Leah and his dad, William Maccready, 21.

Leah, 23, of Broughton Avenue, said: “Jase still has his difficulties and we always knew that he would, like any child born so premature.

"But when you think what he has been through, he’s doing really well.

"Jase occasionally has problems with his eyes turning inwards but that happens very rarely now.

"His immune system is not good and he has chronic lung disease which can trouble him, so we have to be very careful.

“We’re awaiting tests to see if he has autism and his speech is delayed, as we’d been told to expect.

"But recently it has really come on – a few months ago he could just say ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ but one day he suddenly came out with ‘apple’.

"Now he knows lots of fruits – apple, pear and nana.

"He’s really tall, too, it’s amazing how much he has grown!”

Despite the difficulties, his parents feel blessed and Leah added: “We would rather have him as he is than not have him at all, we’re so lucky to have him, it’s a miracle he is with us!”