The parents of a 'warrior' baby boy given just a 1 per cent chance of survival said he is 'defying the odds' and still fighting on for his life. Little Finley James Fletcher was born on Thursday, January 5 to proud parents Kane Fletcher, 30, and his partner Sophie Davis, 29, from Crewe.
During pregnancy, at 20-weeks, the couple were told their son had a heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The condition is a problem that happens when the left side of a baby’s heart doesn't form as it should and is smaller than normal and can’t pump enough blood to the body.
The couple wanted to carry on with the pregnancy to give Finley 'the best chance he deserves' and were looking at the three operations available for this condition. However, they were then told that Finley's condition had worsened and the three operations available would not work, reports the ECHO.
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Sophie and Kane then spoke to a consultant at Alder Hey Children's Hospital who told the parents there was 'a less than one per cent chance' of Finley surviving birth and would need oxygen intervention and various other treatments.
Kane, 30, said: "Me and Sophie agreed to still give the boy a chance because we had come this far, so we carried on and we kept getting checks and seen."
"We were now at this point where we were expecting the worst and all we wanted to do was hope to God that he was born alive and we could meet for a couple of hours."
But Finley 'defied all odds and came out screaming like a normal baby'.
"I got to cut the cord, the baby got put on Sophie as normal. They checked him and he didn't need any oxygen. Sophie burst into tears and just hearing him cry was surreal, it was amazing with the odds we were given. We just couldn't believe it," Kane added.
Baby Finley was transferred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital for further investigations, but unfortunately doctors said there was nothing different to what they had found when Sophie was pregnant. Heartbreakingly, the parents were told by medics from a series of hospitals that Finley was only eligible for palliative care only.
Finley is now two-weeks-old and his parents said he has had no medication, is breastfeeding, is gaining weight and needed no oxygen. The parents and Finley are in Oswestry taking palliative care and 'spending as much time with him [and] taking each day as it comes', however said "everyday [he is] defying the odds".
The parents said they want to now look for alternative treatments privately to 'to try anything and everything' to give Finley 'more of a chance to stay with [his family]'.
Kane added: "The problem we have is they're still going off his weight and his condition two weeks ago, but I want to get him reassessed for how he is now, he's grown, put weight on and feeding better and that's something a private consultant would do."
Describing Finley, Kane said he was 'perfect' and added: "He’s a proper fighter and lives up to every expectation of his name - warrior." To donate to the GoFundMe page, please click here.
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