'All the family came to say goodbye. We held her in our arms and waited for her last breath' Little Grace makes miracle recovery.

Byline: Joanne Butcher

ATINY baby made a miracle recovery after her life-support machine was switched off.

Grace Vincent was just six weeks old when she was struck down with a rare form of meningitis and rushed to hospital.

After four days' watching their precious daughter struggle in intensive care, her tearful parents took the agonising decision to switch off the equipment keeping her alive.

But, freed from the tubes, "Amazing Grace" stunned her parents and medics by beginning to breathe on her own.

The little fighter is now back at home in Holystone, North Tyneside, and fast on her way to recovery.

Parents Emily Ashurst and Pete Vincent are ecstatic after her miracle recovery, although they know she could still suffer lasting damage.

Ms Ashurst, a ward clerk at Newcastle General Hospital, said Grace was born without complications on April 3. "Grace was a very happy little girl," she explained.

"She was quite advanced and smiling after just four weeks. She was doing everything you'd expect a healthy baby to do." But on May 16 she was rushed to hospital after Ms Ashurst found tell-tale purple patches on her skin.

Doctors knew immediately her condition was serious and she was diagnosed with an infection of late-onset bacterial infection Strep B, which kills one in eight affected youngsters.

Mr Vincent, a 26-year-old Marine, had just returned from Helmand province in Afghanistan when his daughter fell sick.

"It was a really gruelling tour, one of the toughest the British Army has been in," Mr Vincent said.

"I lost a few friends. To come back to this was really hard." In hospital, Grace deteriorated rapidly.

"We watched her stop breathing, we watched them put an oxygen mask on her face," said Ms Ashurst, 26.

"There were 15 doctors in the room at one point. I expected she just had a cold and I made a bottle up until the doctors told us what it was.

"The machines were going, there were tubes put inside her, her eyes were taped up. It was heart-breaking. I didn't think it was real. Just 24 hours earlier we were shopping for clothes. I thought, why me? "I started to blame myself, as I now know that 35% of women carry the bacteria.

But nine out of 10 women have never heard of it." Four days later scans showed Grace had suffered "catastrophic brain damage".

"It was a bleak picture," Ms Ashurst said. "The doctors said they'd never seen a girl as poorly as Grace. She was baptised on the Tuesday. We came to the decision to switch off the machine on Wednesday.

All the family came to say goodbye.

"Pete and I wanted to say goodbye on our own and we were told she might gasp for air before she died. They put her in my arms before they disconnected her. We had to say when we were ready for them to take the tube out of her nose. We held her in our arms and waited for her last breath." Mr Vincent added: "It was like watching someone die over and over again. She would stop breathing for 15 seconds or so, and then start again. It was the worst time of all." But at 4am, Grace was still breathing and even took her bottle and fed, amazing medical staff.

Ms Ashurst said: "We didn't know what to say or do. We had prepared ourselves for the inevitable. It was like living in limbo." Two weeks ago Grace was transferred to North Tyneside General hospital where doctors still gave her slim chances of survival. But yesterday she was discharged to her family's continued amazement and joy.

Ms Ashurst, who also has a six-year-old daughter Megan from a previous re- lationship, said: "Her breathing has stabilised, showing that her brain stem is not damaged.

"Her heart rate has also stabilised. She takes her bottle well.

"She coos back at you, and she started crying three days ago which is a good sign. We thought we'd never hear that again.

"She has opened one eye but is still blind. Her pupils have begun dilating back to their normal size. If you touch her face she will lift a hand up to it.

"I do think it is miraculous in a way, given the experience of five weeks ago. We don't look too far into the future and we are guided by Grace day by day.

"What she is doing now is amazing.

Everyone has been calling her Amazing Grace. One thing I'd love is for her sight to come back. She used to love looking up when you were feeding her." Mr Vincent added: "I think toughness runs in our blood.

Grace has defied expectations, and defied science." Dr Ki Pang, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at Newcastle General Hospital was one of a team of doctors who helped treat little Grace. "It is good news that the baby is better," he said.

Grace's touching story is spreading rapidly, and a catholic church in Buenos Aires now has a picture of her on its altar.

Her mother-in-law Leigh Brice, 48, a legal secretary, is taking part in a 14 mile walk from Bath to Bristol to help raise money for Meningitis UK this weekend along with Mr Vincent.

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THE Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has identified a number of factors that help to predict whether your baby is more likely to develop a strep B infection.

These include premature labour, raised temperature during labour, and a gap of 18 hours or more between the waters breaking and the baby being born.

Infections in babies are usually early-onset (within seven days of birth), with 90% occurring within 12 hours of birth.

Typical signs of early-onset strep B infection include grunting, poor feeding, lethargy, irritability, low blood pressure and abnormally high or low temperature, heart rate and/or breathing rate.

Although more unusual, infections can also develop when the baby is seven or more days old, usually as meningitis with septicaemia.

Some warning signs of late-onset infection may include fever, poor feeding and/or vomiting and drowsiness as well as a red or purple rash that does not fade under pressure.

Early diagnosis and treatment are vital.

If your baby shows any of the signs, call your GP immediately.

If your GP isn't available, go straight to your nearest accident and emergency department.

Doctors can predict babies who are most at risk

HIDDEN KILLER THE bacteria strep B is present in nearly quarter of women of childbearing age and can be passed on to babies during labour. Most don't know it's there, as it doesn't usually cause problems or symptoms.

Around one in 2,000 babies the UK develops a strep B infection. Sadly, about one in of these babies die.

It can kill within hours but is not routinely screened for, something Ms Ashurst wants to see changed.

Three babies admitted in the same period as Grace caught strep B and all died.

Although these cases are unusual, strep B is the most common cause of severe infection in newborns, particularly in the first week after birth. Expectant mothers in America are already put through a screening programme.

The Department of Health has said there is not enough evidence to suggest that the benefit of screening all pregnant women for strep B and treating them with antibiotics would outweigh the harm..She was baptised on the Tuesday. We came to the decision to switch off the machine on Wednesday

CAPTION(S):

ADORED Grace is held by Megan. Below left, Grace with grandmother Leigh Brice and father Pete. SPECIAL Grace with her grandmother Leigh Brice.