Miracle recovery of 'amazing Grace'

Grace Vincent was just six weeks old when she was struck down with a rare form of the brain disease and rushed to hospital, where she spent four days in intensive care before her family, from Newcastle, took the agonising decision to switch off the equipment sustaining her tiny heart.

But her parents were stunned when, freed from the tubes, the tiny girl - now nicknamed "Amazing Grace" - began to breathe tentatively on her own.

She is now on her way to recovery and her senses of smell and and touch and her vocal ability are all returning.

Her loved ones know there could still be lasting damage from the bacterial infection Strep B which kills one in eight affected youngsters.

Her mother Emily Ashurst, 26, said Grace was born without complications on April 3. Her partner Pete Vincent, a 26-year-old marine, had just returned from Afghanistan and was settling back to family life when their daughter fell sick.

But on May 16 she was rushed to hospital after Ms Ashurst, a hospital worker at Newcastle General, found her distressed, with the tell-tale purple patches on her skin. Doctors knew immediately her condition was serious and she was diagnosed with an infection of late-onset Strep B (or CBS).

Four days later scans showed Grace had suffered "catastrophic brain damage". Ms Ashurst said. "It was a bleak picture. The doctors said they'd never seen a girl as poorly as Grace. We came to the decision to switch off the machine on Wednesday. She was baptised on the Tuesday and all the family came to say goodbye."

But that moment never came. By 4am she was still breathing and giving her mother feeding signals. She willingly took her bottle and fed, confounding medical staff.

Two weeks ago she was transferred to North Tyneside hospital where doctors still expected her to die, as her heart rate was fluctuating wildly, but she was finally discharged on Friday.