The girl in a million

Little Sarah Morrison could break a bone by simply sneezing and the tiny baby suffered 30 rib fractures before she was even born.

But the determined tot has defied doctors who gave her just two days to live and is set to celebrate her first birthday next month.

She spends most of her time lying on a specialist mattress, has to be fed through a tube in her nose, can only be held for short times with the utmost care and couldn't even be weighed when she was born for fear of breaking more bones.

But that doesn't stop Sarah's constant giggles and wriggles of delight as well as her love of games and cartoons.

Sarah's mum Sonia McCrossan was told her baby had brittle bone disorder - Osteogenesis Imperfecta - while still pregnant and living in Ireland.

Her first baby Leah, who suffered from the same condition, died when just two weeks old so doctors wanted Sonia to have an abortion. But that wasn't an option for Sonia, aged 34, and her partner Philip Morrison, 31. The family headed to Dublin then to Sheffield to search out the city's specialist brittle bone team - leaving behind their family, friends and home as well as Philip's job as a fisherman.

Now living in Southey Green, they believe Sarah is only alive because of the extraordinary help given to them by Prof Nick Bishop, the metabolic bone team and nurses on ward S3.

She has only broken two bones in one leg and another in an arm since being allowed home but even changing a nappy is far from normal because Sarah's hips and back can't be left unsupported for even one second.

But the cute tot still shows a fantastic love of life as well as a mischievous sense of humour.

Philip said: "If she doesn't get my attention in the morning by making a noise she will throw one of her little toys at me or I will get my hair pulled.

"Then the moment she sees me get out of bed she is in fits of laughter."

Philip is hopeful his daughter will be able to move about with help from a wheelchair when she is older but for now they are just trying to encourage her to sit up.

He said: "Sarah is one of the most severely affected babies in the world. It is one in million that a baby will be born with this illness - she can break bones as easily as sneezing.

"She was as good as dead in Ireland. We were told Sarah wouldn't live past two days and we were wasting our time coming to Sheffield to get help for her, but there are only three hospitals in the world which could help with Sarah's condition so we had to try."

Sarah has to go into hospital for two days every six weeks and has regular visits from a physiotherapist as well as numerous other treatments.

Sonia said: "For a baby with her condition she is a very positive and intelligent baby."

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on to thestar.co.uk for more photos of little Sarah.