A premature baby boy has been brought back to life after he failed to take his first breath for almost 15 minutes.
The youngster was born 10 weeks early at Milton Keynes Hospital with no heartbeat and almost no blood in his body.
His terrified mother Julie Gillard, 30, and her partner Ross were forced to watch for 10 minutes as a crash team of eight doctors compressed his chest and injected him with adrenaline.
Doctors warned them that they could only continue for a further two minutes or their baby would risk brain damage.
But after 12 minutes the youngster managed to take his first breath and his delighted parents decided to call their 3lb 7oz son Lucky Lee.
Now after five weeks being cared for at the hospital’s neo-natal unit he has made a full recovery and is due to go home next week.
Mother-of-five Julie said: ‘I first knew something was wrong when I didn’t hear him cry. I was a bit woozy from labour but a strange silence hit me.
‘When he came out he was pure white in colour, like a tiny wax doll. There was not a drop of blood in him, and no heartbeat.’
Julie’s placenta had ruptured during labour causing the blood in Lucky Lee’s body to travel back into her body leaving him deathly pale and with little oxygen.
‘I felt completely helpless as a mother,’ Ms Gillard said.
‘When the doctor came over and said they could only try for two more minutes my partner, mother, and I all broke down. We thought that was it.
‘Then after about 30 seconds the doctor shouted: This boy just breathed on his own! The staff were amazed and all said he was a miracle so we had to call him “Lucky Lee”.
‘We will be eternally grateful to all the doctors and nurses for bringing our little boy back from the dead. And Lucky Lee has no idea all the trouble he has caused – he is perfect.’
Lucky Lee was born on June 30. Three brain scans since his recovery have shown no signs of brain damage.
After two days Julie and Ross, from Milton Keynes, and grandmother Janet were allowed to hold Lucky Lee, who now weighs five and half pounds.