Man told he was infertile after lightning strike becomes a dad

But as he thanked his good fortune, the diagnosis from doctors that the lightning bolt had almost certainly left him sterile preyed on his mind.

Now, however, that cloud is lifted after the birth of his son Brogan on New Year's Eve.

Yesterday Mr Gillespie, 43, said: "I am absolutely walking on air - there are no words to describe how I feel.

"Brogan is a miracle baby in a true sense of the word.

"God could have taken me four years ago, but now he has given me a wonderful miracle."

Mr Gillespie was out jogging in a park in Liverpool in August 2003 with friends when the lightning bolt sent him 15ft through the air.

The power of the blast caused the gold chain around his neck to disintegrate but the cross attached to it was unscathed.

He was rushed to hospital with multiple fractures to his jaw, smashed teeth, broken eye-sockets and four blood clots on his brain.

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Against all odds: Campbell and Hazel with baby Brogan

Mr Gillespie spent a week in a coma and several months in hospital. Doctors said his internal injuries were so severe he would never be able to father a child.

But after recovering sufficiently to return to work as a sales executive and meeting fiancee Hazel Topping, they were overjoyed to discover the experts had got it wrong.

Brogan Thomas Alexander was born weighing 8lb 8oz and the couple - who will marry in March - are hoping for more children.

"I feel like the luckiest man on earth,' said Mr Gillespie, originally from Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, but now of Prescot, near Liverpool.

"I've come a long way. They said the effects of my injuries were so severe that I would never father a child, but look at us now.'

Miss Topping, a shopping centre worker, celebrated her 40th birthday on Thursday, She said: "I still can't believe it's true - Brogan is the perfect Christmas, New Year and birthday gift all rolled into one.

"After all Campbell's been through it's a joy to see him a doting dad. At the moment we'll be concentrating on Brogan but we'd love to try for an even bigger family, God willing."

Dr Lewis Jones, a fertility expert at Liverpool Women's Hospital, said there was little evidence of people being able to father a child after being struck by lightning.

"Mr Gillespie obviously suffered a terrific trauma to the body," he said. "The stress to the body by such a forceful impact causes severe rupturing of the internal organs.

"It depends where a person is struck, but the likelihood after receiving such severe internal injuries is highly unpredictable."

Between 30 and 60 people are struck by lightning in Britain every year. Nine out of ten survive, albeit often with serious injuries.