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Geordie’s fight for life was thanks to hospital

6/ 4/2006

GEORDIE Murray's life support was almost switched off at Hope Hospital as the three-month premature baby struggled to pull through.

Now a healthy 11-year-old, the Irlam youngster and his mum Ann are backing the fight to keep services open.

The Fiddlers Lane Primary School pupil was born at Hope in November 1994 and spent six months in the neonatal intensive care unit.

A consultant warned Ann and her partner Steve that Geordie's life support may have to be turned off because he was not responding to treatment.

But the youngster proved to be a fighter and given a third attempt his condition began to improve.

Ann, 49, of Mond Road, said: "When Geordie was in intensive care I got a call to say there was an emergency - his lungs had failed, his heart was being pushed to one side and they didn't think he would pull through.

"I was living in Peel Green at the time and it took about 10 minutes to get there. Had he had been further away, somewhere like Bolton, God knows how long it would have taken to get there. In cases like that it could be too late if the worst was to happen."

Ann, whose two daughters Angela, 27, and Janine, 32, were also born at Hope, added: "The nurses at Hope are absolutely out of this world - I don't just fear for the babies, I fear for the parents as well."

Geordie, a year 6 pupil, said: "My mum told me it might be closing down. I think it's bad because other children should be able to be born there. I just want everything to be all right and I don't want anybody to be hurt."