A FAMILY who were told to switch off their baby’s life support machine are looking forward to his first day at school after his miraculous recovery.

Five years ago, Kelly Grahame, 38, and her husband Richard, 41, were faced with the heartbreaking task of saying goodbye to their four-week-old baby after he developed group B streptococcus and meningitis.

After weeks at Great Ormond Street Hospital, doctors told the devastated couple little Harrison would be severely brain damaged and would not survive treatment.

The brave couple, of Fambridge Drive, Wickford, gathered their family and elder son, Fletcher.

But on the morning they went to say goodbye, nurses delivered the miracle news Harrison had started breathing on his own.

Next week Harrison, who is now five, will be heading off to join his big brother Fletcher, eight, at Oakfield Primary School, Wickford.

Mrs Grahame said: “We were told Harrison would have some development problems as he grows up.

“But every time we take him to see specialists, his tests come back clear.

“I keep asking the doctors if he was really as ill as we believed he was. They say ‘yes, we cannot explain it – just enjoy it’.”

Harrison has some delayed speech, but is having speech therapy and will have support when he goes to primary school.

Mrs Grahame nowworks as an ambassador for the Sick Children’s Trust – the charity that provided accommodation for her family in London while Harrison was being treated.

She added: “This was an incredibly stressful time for us and there were moments when we thought we’d lose him.

“He was in intensive care for 12 days at Great Ormond Street, before being transferred to a neurological ward for another week.

“During this time we stayed at Rainbow House, at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and were extremely grateful to the Sick Children’s Trust for supporting us.”

Mrs Grahame realised her son was poorly when he was 27 days old and would not feed properly.

The midwife came to see him and advised he was taken to A&E at Basildon Hospital.

He was then rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Mrs Grahame said: “We are so proud of him and he’s so looking forward to going to school.”