A PREMATURE baby whose heart was the size of a thumbnail when he underwent cardiac surgery has celebrated his first birthday.

Noah Clarey needed a complex operation to save his life and was put in a sandwich bag to keep his tiny body warm after his mum Helen, 30, of Durham City, gave birth at just 26 weeks.

Weighing a mere 2lb 2ozs he was placed inside the tiny sandwich bag to help keep him warm and hooked up to a ventilator in a bid to keep him alive.

A scan then showed that a duct in his heart was wide open and needed to be closed straight away if there was to be any chance of his survival.

But he made an amazing recovery after the operation which saw his heart, the size of a mere thumbnail, operated on.

Mrs Clarey, a practice nurse in Ferryhill, said: "It was a roller-coaster experience.

"When he came out he looked like a jelly baby and sounded like a little kitten.

"The nurses put him in a tiny sandwich bag to keep him warm and they took him away for five hours.

"He was put on ventilation and then assisted ventilation and then after four weeks they did a scan on his heart."

At five weeks old, and weighing just 3lbs, the youngster was transferred from the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where he was born to the city's Freeman Hospital where he underwent a 30-minute operation to close the duct.

Mrs Clarey, who is married to Neil, 35, said they spent the next few hours desperately waiting to hear if their newborn son would survive.

She said: "It was the longest 30 minutes of our lives.

"The duct was 6mm and his heart was the size of a thumbnail.

"We were terrified he many not survive after being told to fear the worst.

"Neil was really good at keeping me calm, him and all our family were there for me at all times and that is what I needed."

After the operation the couple along with Noah’s big sister, Phoebe, five, waited to see the progress Noah would make.

Mrs Clarey said: "He's such a little fighter and so smiley and happy now.

"When he got home he had to be on oxygen for about six months.

"It was hard as it wasn't like bringing home a new born baby as we were terrified to leave him."

Noah who today (Thursday, May 28) celebrates his first birthday, looks fit, healthy and happy and shows no signs of the problems he faced a year ago.

His parents said they could not have made it through the past 12 months without the help of the Tiny Lives charity which supports premature children born at the RVI.

Mr Clarey and his friends have organised a special fund-raising football match at St James' Park on Monday at 11am.