A mother has praised the life saving care her new-born son received when he was rushed to hospital on a Saturday night.

Five-day-old Fergus Ainsworth, of South Lane, Sutton Valence, became limp and unresponsive and was taken to Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury in February hours from death.

Little Fergus, who has Down’s Syndrome, was suffering from a rare birth defect which meant his lungs were being flooded with fatty fluid and he was effectively drowning.

Sinead Ainsworth said: “It was the most terrifying experience of my life I thought we were going to be burying our baby. He was just so lifeless, it was like there was a corpse on the bed.

“He had four to five people working on him constantly. Those doctors and nurses were so amazing, they had a very critical case to be dealing with and they were so calm, professional, considerate and sensitive. I couldn’t fault them in anything they did and this was 2am on a Sunday morning.”

He was blue-lighted to Evelina London Children’s Hospital but despite numerous tests it took a week to diagnose Fergus with a chylothorax – a leaking lymph gland – which affects about one in 10,000 births.

He spent nine-weeks in intensive care and underwent open-heart surgery as he also had a large hole in the organ.

Mother-of-three Sinead Ainsworth said: “When we brought him in we were told Fergus might not make it through the night. Even three or four weeks into his time at hospital there was still a big question mark over him.”

Remarkably Fergus has made a fantastic recovery and even though he is no longer in hospital he remains very far up on the NHS’ radar.

The 41-year-old added: “I never had a doubt in my mind about the level of care despite it being a weekend. Everyone was there within 10 minutes trying to keep Fergus alive. I couldn’t have asked for anything better, it was overwhelming. This was two or three o’clock in the morning and everyone was there, I don’t know where they came from but they were there.

“The hospital and the doctors, nurses and everyone involved need the recognition. They saved my babies life, there is no question about it.”