Happily babbling and playing with his toys, Danny Penman's parents say he is the 'glue that holds the family together'.
But they describe the 10 months since his birth as a 'living nightmare'.
They have had to watch their son fight for his life not once, but twice in that short time.
At just one-month-old he was diagnosed with a bleed on his brain, and doctors revealed he needed major brain surgery.
But while his parents thought the ordeal was over, he developed a rare form of meningitis which has an 80 per cent death rate.
When he was first diagnosed with the deadly infection, doctors said he was just 20 minutes away from death.
Miraculously, the youngster managed to beat the killer disease and is now at home with his family.
His mother Shelby, 24, describes the horror of being told her son was moments from death.
She said: 'They told us that, had another 20 minutes passed, Daniel would've been dead.
'I'm not sure how, at just six-weeks-old, he beat meningitis with hardly any symptoms.'
It
has been a difficult 10 months for Mrs Penman and her husband, Andrew,
37, following the birth of Danny, on August 5 last year.
Arriving at 37 weeks, the youngster was born with his umbilical cord wrapped four times around his neck.
By
the time he was four days old, Mrs Penman was becoming increasingly
worried about her son as he was failing to wake up for feeds.
'I insisted on seeing the midwife,' said the mother-of-three.
'She said everything was fine, but I knew it wasn't and we ended up taking him to see a doctor.
'Thank goodness we did. A series of tests were run, and a few days later they discovered he had a bleed on the brain.'
This led to a nine day fight for life, as doctors tried desperately to stabilize the newborn.
At
less than a month old, Danny underwent brain surgery at Newcastle's
Royal Victoria Infirmary and his condition seemed to improve, allowing
the family to take him home last September.
'On September 12, our lives were changed forever,' said Mrs Penman, of Durham.
'Danny wasn't feeding very well that night and he wasn't settling.
'We decided to take him to A&E. In the 20 minutes to get from our house to the hospital he became very ill.
'That was the start of our very long and tumultuous journey.'
Their worst
fear then became a reality when doctors said Danny had staphylococcus
meningitis, caused by the deadly bug staphylococcus capitis.
Mrs
Penman said: 'Things didn't look good. He was transferred to intensive
care in the RVI and the doctors couldn't get his fever down at all.'
As
she waited, day and night, at her son's hospital bedside, husband
Andrew, an IT support worker, was at home looking after children Ethan,
three, and 23-month-old Lucy.
Mrs Penman said it was a truly terrifying time.
She
said: 'Danny had been through so much already. This type of meningitis
had an 80 per cent death rate, so we just didn't know what to expect.
'Danny's fever stayed around, even after five days of antibiotics, so our worries increased again.'
After two weeks, and a lot of heartache, Danny's condition improved and the family were allowed to take him home.
'We were told that the level of damage to his brain would not be known for some time,' said Mrs Penman.
'However, he's doing fine at the minute.'
Danny's recovery has continued over recent months and he is now 'crawling and babbling' to the delight of his family.
Mrs Penman said: 'He is so very happy and loving.
'He is the glue of our family and we're so thankful for him every day.
'Not
a day passes that I don't think of all he's been through, and I proudly
tell anyone who will listen about his journey and his battle with
meningitis.'
'I visit the Meningitis Now website daily and take comfort in so many of the stories.
'I often want to reach out, to talk, but feel a bit strange, as so far my son hasn't had many ill effects and he has survived.'
Mrs Penman is hoping Danny's story will urge many parents, worried about their children's symptoms, to seek immediate help.
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