THE family of a Wirral baby who was given less than a 10% chance of survival are looking forward to spending their first Christmas with the incredible tot after she defeated all the odds.

What should have been the happiest of times for Bromborough parents Jemma Coathup and Mohammed Al-Blushi was turned into heartbreak when a 20-week scan showed little Esme had a rare breathing condition called congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).

A hole in her diaphragm meant her lungs would not form correctly and with the risk of her other organs moving into her chest cavity, she was given little chance of survival.

But her parents refused to give up on their unborn daughter and despite being asked if they wanted to terminate the pregnancy, 20-year-old Jemma and 25-year-old Mohammed decided to give Esme a shot at life.

After hearing about a pioneering operation being carried out at Kings College Hospital in London, the couple decided it was Esme’s best chance and in May, Jemma underwent a procedure which saw a balloon inserted into her daughter’s windpipe while she was still in the womb.

Professor Kypros Nicolaides and his team carried out the operation while Jemma was awake, using tiny instruments to pierce the womb and insert the balloon through Esme’s mouth.

Mohammed, who was by his partner’s side throughout, said: “It was absolutely incredible because we could see Esme on the TV monitor – we could see her hair, her head and her nose.”

The balloon – smaller than a penny – encouraged the build up of fluid in Esme’s tiny lungs, forcing them to develop.

But the procedure was not without risk and could have induced premature labour, something that would have killed Esme had the balloon still been in place.

“Thankfully, we were able to have the balloon removed before Jemma went into labour,” said Mohammed.

“We got back from London after having it removed and Jemma went into labour a couple of days later – all of the prodding and poking must have done it and she said ‘Right, I’m coming out’. She was born six weeks premature and weighed just 5lb.”

Despite spending almost three months in hospital due to her prematurity, Esme has made a miraculous recovery.

Her diaphragm was repaired at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and now, five months after entering the world, young Esme is progressing well.

Mohammed, who is also dad to five-year-old Omar and two-year-old Romeo, said: “It’s really wonderful because every day we just think ‘Wow’ and we can’t believe how she has come on in leaps and bounds.

“We just can’t believe she has come on this far. At the moment she’s doing ok and much better than other babies with CDH that we’ve heard about that didn’t have the balloon trial.”

Mohammed is now setting his sights on raising awareness of CDH in the hope of giving other babies the chance Esme had.

He said: “Even now when you Google it, it’s extremely rare. You hear about all of the other stuff like cancer and heart disease but you don’t hear about stuff like CDH.

“The staff at Arrowe Park said we are the only parents who have continued with the pregnancy after finding out our child had CDH.

“We need to raise awareness because if your baby is diagnosed with CDH, there is hope.”

Mohammed added: “When I think back, we knew we were going to keep her but I don’t think we realised exactly what we were letting ourselves in for because we were going back and forth to Alder Hey every day.

“But Esme is doing really well and she’s making up for all of that time she spent in hospital – she’s making good use of her lungs now.

“Hopefully in 15 or 20 years time she’ll be wondering what all the fuss was about.”