IT is difficult for little Freya-Lilly Dyos’ parents to believe their once critically-ill daughter survived a traumatic birth with nothing more than asthma-type symptoms.

Minutes after the tot was born in November 2015, she stopped breathing.

She was immediately transferred to the neonatal high-dependency unit at Colchester Hospital for meconium aspiration where she was given oxygen through a machine.

Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) can affect newborns before, during, or after labour, when a baby inhales its first bowel movement inside the womb.

Although meconium aspiration syndrome is often not usually life-threatening, it can cause significant health complications and even be fatal if severe or untreated.

Gazette:

Day's old - Freya-Lilly being supplied oxygen

The next two weeks were gut-wrenching for parents Becky Taylor, 23, and Scott Dyos, 27, of Clacton, as they waited for their youngest daughter’s breathing to improve – but the worst was yet to come.

X-rays indicated her lungs were clogged up.

Freya-Lilly was dependent on breathing machines and by the time she was 16 days old, her condition became so severe, she had to be ventilated.

The family’s only hope was to transfer her to the specialist Rosie Hospital more than 50 miles away in Cambridge.

Eldest daughter Amelia-Rose Dyos was 15 months old at the time and the family could not afford to stay in a hotel.

Grandmother Jan Taylor, of St Osyth, who supported her daughter through the ordeal.

She said: “I will never forget that day.

“We considered bringing a touring caravan to a site a few miles away, but this wasn’t practical.

“Sleeping in the car and using the food hall seemed inevitable because we were simply too far away from home to commute.

“Freya-Lilly’s condition was so unstable we didn’t want to be more than a few minutes away from her at any time.

“We watched her fight and that week Becky and Scott weren’t sure if they were coming or going – it was by far the most up and down we’ve ever been.”Gazette:

Recovering - Four days after surgery

Chestnut House in Cambridge allowed Jan, 56, to stay with Freya-Lilly’s parents for the weeks until she was transferred back to Colchester.

It is run by the Sick Children’s Trust which provides free “home from home” accommodation to families with a seriously-ill child in hospital.

“Chestnut House is a very special and much-needed facility,” said Jan.

“It provides something no hotel room can – a safe place to go when you’re at your lowest, where it’s acceptable to cry, share your story or sleep knowing your child is upstairs and you can be there in minutes.

“Having parents nearby must give the child security and a sense of safety, that’s got to make recovery easier surely.”

Freya-Lilly needed life-saving surgery to remove part of her lung and was given just a 30 per cent chance of survival.

At 29 days old, she was diagnosed with a rare condition called congenital lobar emphysema (CLE) so while air could enter her lungs, it could not escape.

She had the least common form of the illness, affecting just 1 in 30,000 children.

Gazette:

Sisterly love - Amelia-Rose and Freya-Lilly at seven-days-old

Jan said: “When we found out Freya-Lilly had survived, there was a medley of emotions.

“We knew we weren’t out of the woods yet, but at last we had some hope she’d recover and could look beyond the next hour.

“She proved us all wrong and made so much progress over the next few days, she came off all breathing support.”

Freya-Lilly is now 15-months-old and doing well, however the family suffered another blow when Amelia-Rose suffered a life-threatening illness in February 2016.

It has given them a deep appreciation of the work of charities, such as the Sick Children’s Trust which gave them stability at an uncertain time.

Jan said: “Amelia-Rose became ill with diabetic ketoacidosis which is caused by a lack of insulin.

“She ended up on the paediatric critical care unit at Colchester Hospital and at just 18 months, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

“This time reminded us of how lucky we were when Freya-Lilly was so ill and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”