PLUCKY little Jacob Locke is celebrating his first birthday after defying death.Fighter Jacob was given just a five per cent chance of life by experts at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital.

PLUCKY little Jacob Locke is celebrating his first birthday after defying death.

Fighter Jacob was given just a five per cent chance of life by experts at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital.

But he beat the odds and defied the doctors and is now a healthy, happy little toddler with a pair of lungs to match.

Mum Ruth Dawson, 20, recalled the "horrible" time she spent in hospital after doctors discovered there was something seriously wrong with her unborn baby.

Scans revealed placenta problems which meant Jacob was not being fed properly and was getting less food the bigger he grew.

She said: "It was awful. Really, really horrible. I went to hospital at 25 weeks and I was told he was going to die that night.

"They said he had a 5pc chance of surviving. I went to Addenbrooke's a week later and a doctor told me he had no chance.

"I stayed in hospital for about two months having scans – I was going through hell.

"Jacob was born at 32 weeks, on October 14, and he only weighed two pounds, he was absolutely tiny.

"I had to have a caesarean, if he had been born naturally he would never have survived. It was all very frightening and very scary.

"But all the people at the hospital and all my friends and family were just brilliant. They helped me through it and I wanted to say thank you to all of them."

Little Jacob made his way home to Downside Close, Ipswich, two months later, weighing only four pounds.

But he was well on his way to turning into the bouncing little baby boy he is today.

Ruth said: "He's that extra little bit special. There's just something that's really special about him.

"I know he will be able to fight his way through anything with what he's already been through."