Tot stuns doctors by beating odds to sit up, see and hear

A BABY girl who doctors warned may never see, hear or sit upright has undergone a "miracle" transformation.

Caleigh Griffin was found to have a cyst covering half of her brain when she was less than two months old.

The condition affected the eight-month-old's vision and hearing, leading doctors to warn she would need major surgery to release the mounting pressure.

But incredibly her condition appears to have reversed itself without the need for surgery

Her mum Alison, 31, from Winchburgh, West Lothian, said: "The doctors said she is a miracle baby, and I don't think it's often they use that phrase.

"It's a mystery why the pressure reduced, and the doctors can't guarantee what will happen next, but it's a huge relief for now.

"We know that she will need more treatment, check-ups and possibly operations in the future. We're realistic.

"But we never thought she would be able to sit up."

Alison and husband David only realised something was wrong when they noticed Caleigh's eyes were fixed to the right at just six weeks old.

She also showed slow development, but they only realised the extent of her condition when Caleigh underwent an MRI scan.

Alison said: "Initially the hospital did a lot of blood tests and an ultrasound but then in late October, early November, she was taken to St John's for a scan, and soon after that we were rushed to the Sick Kids for a full MRI scan.

"That's when the doctors discovered the cyst. There were multiple haemorrhages, tiny ones, on her brain.

"We couldn't understand what was wrong, because there had been no problems during my pregnancy."

Alison, a stay-at-home mum with two other daughters, Molly, nine, and Faith, two, and her husband David, 31, who works at Polmont Young Offenders' Institute, feared that Caleigh may be blind.

She said: "My husband and I were devastated. The worst-case scenario we had prepared ourselves for was that she might be blind.

"But the cyst covered almost half her brain. I remember seeing the scan itself for the first time. Nothing prepares you for seeing that."

However, while doctors were studying her condition, the swelling from the cyst rapidly reduced around January.

Caleigh's vision became clear and she was able to hear and sit up.

Alison said: "We had been told she would need a major operation, depending on what the surgeons decided, and at one point we were told she wouldn't see or hear.

"Two days before Christmas Caleigh had a scan, then when we went back in early January the cyst had reduced.

"As the pressure has been taken off, she is sitting, she can see and hear."We couldn't believe it."

Alison's father Terry Doherty has set about raising money for the neurology department at the Sick Kids Hospital to thank doctors for their care, and with the anticipation that Caleigh will need monitoring and support in the years to come.

He has already raised 1200 with a single coffee morning.

The 51-year-old said: The whole village has been great."