Dilwyn parents Pat and Tony Wilcox feared the worst when their baby was born four-and-a-half months prematurely during a holiday thousands of miles away from home.
Though the odds were stacked against their tiny daughter’s survival, Gillian Wilcox, who is now an 18-year-old student on the brink of a university career, has returned to her roots in the United States to thank the doctors and nurses who saved her life in Savannah, Georgia, back in 1990.
A lively and healthy teenager, Gillian, who hopes to study Biology with Business Management at Manchester University, wanted to meet the staff who played a crucial role when she was born at just 1lb 9ozs.
Her mother said the medical staff has remained “a bit like an extended family” and there are plans for the whole family to make a visit to Georgia when Gillian celebrates her 21st birthday in three years.
As a baby, she spent three months in hospital before being accompanied by specialist staff on a flight to the UK, where she was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s special care unit, minutes away from the family’s former home in Birmingham.
Her parents had been forced to take the “terrible decision” to return home at the end of a touring holiday in the States, leaving their baby at the Memorial University Medical Centre.
“We had a business to run and elderly parents to look after, we didn’t expect her to survive,” said Gillian’s mum. “All we could do was sit and look at her, this tiny, delicate little thing.”
Babies born at that stage have a 60 to 70 per cent chance of surviving now, though that figure was a mere 20 per ent when Gillian was born.
Back in 1990, the couple later returned to their baby’s side in Georgia, and a week later Gillian followed them back to the UK. Since then the family has kept in touch with the hospital, and made a return trip with Gillian when she was two.
“Her story gets talked about quite a lot, people being aware of how precious she is,” said Pat.
The family, with Gillian’s younger sister, Hayley, moved to Dilwyn nine years ago and Gillian has played an active part in school life at Dilwyn and at Weobley High School.
Describing the “scary” scenario 18 years ago Pat said: “I was 25 weeks’ pregnant and at that time viability was 28 weeks when I suddenly went into labour.”
Earlier that day the couple had visited a beach at Savannah, where they climbed a lighthouse. Driving further down the coast to Brunswick, Pat was admitted to hospital where Gillian was born “very quickly” before being swiftly moved to a neo-natal unit back at Savannah.
Gillian’s story has been the subject of a number of TV and newspaper reports this week. She said: “I hope my case would give other mothers, and whole families who might have had babies prematurely, hope that they will be alright.”