AGAINST all odds, little Annie Harrison is celebrating being six months old today.

Her story of survival is so incredible, her surgery will feature on Channel 4's Baby Surgeons: Delivering Miracles on Monday evening at 9pm.

Her parents Richard and Rebecca, of Wootton, told the County Press their story.

The couple found out Rebecca was pregnant in January 2020, and then the country went into lockdown, but everything was going well with the pregnancy. The 12-week scan showed nothing untoward.

The 20-week scan, held when Rebecca was 19 weeks pregnant, was a different story.

It showed a large pocket of fluid where the baby's left lung should have been, and no left lung at all. The baby had signs of heart failure due to the pressure a congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation of the lung

The next morning they went to Southampton General for a further scan.

Richard, who owns Vectis Storage in East Cowes, said: "They treated us as special, but we knew it was only because something horrible was going on. They described it as a rarity, on a rarity, on a rarity."

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A procedure to drain the mass failed, and the couple were told there was probably nothing more that could be done.

Rebecca was told she may have to give birth, and it may be detrimental to her own health to leave it much longer. The baby wasn't expected to survive.

However, the next day, the couple were called to St George's Hospital in London, to meet world-renowned baby surgeon Professor Basky Thilaganathan, who they came to know as Professor Basky.

He had operated on a similar case before, but not on a baby at such an early stage in the pregnancy.

When the couple got to the hospital, the professor said he wanted to operate immediately, and they were told Channel 4 would like to film it. They gave their consent.

The mass was growing so fast inside the baby, Professor Basky wanted to place a tube near the mass, and feed a laser through it, to zap and kill a rogue blood vessel.

The Harrisons were warned the baby's heart could stop at any time, and there were no guarantees the procedure would work, but it could give the baby a chance to live.

The baby was put to sleep inside Rebecca, and eight doctors came to watch the surgery — along with the TV cameras.

Richard said: "It was incredible. He did the procedure in five to ten minutes, no mucking about. The baby didn't flinch, and Professor Basky was confident and professional and made you feel in safe hands."

The surgery was a success. A scan three days later showed all the fluid was gone, and the baby near enough came out of heart failure.

Eventually, she even grew some of her left lung.

Rebecca was induced at 38 weeks and five days, and suffered a long and painful labour, but Annie was born weighing 6lb 13oz.

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She was initially placed in intensive care but was soon on her way home, breathing on her own.

Some of the mass is still there but is not having any effect, and both lungs are functioning.

She will have future scans to keep an eye on the situation but looking at the happy baby today, you would never know what she has been through.