PAUL and Tracey Cotton have lost count of the number of times they have almost lost their "special little angel" – daughter Georgia.

Georgia, of Selwyn Street, Stoke, was just a few weeks old when she was given an emergency christening at her hospital bed after doctors told her parents she would not survive the night.

After beating the odds, Georgia, who was diagnosed with brain damage and a condition called West Syndrome – a rare and serious form of epilepsy in infants – was then thought unlikely to live to see her first birthday.

Now aged nine, and despite severe epilepsy and other medical problems, she continues to cheat death.

Over a traumatic past six months, Georgia was twice resuscitated and missed out on two holidays after falling prey to the epileptic fits which have afflicted her almost since birth. One was to Spain, the other a trip of a lifetime to Disneyland in Florida.

It is the youngster's fighting spirit which gives her family strength, and now Georgia's mum, Tracey, has given her a well-deserved nomination for a Sentinel Our Heroes award as a Child of Courage.

Tracey, aged 41, said: "She's had quite a rough six months. First she was rushed to hospital and she had to be resuscitated in the back of the ambulance, then again in hospital.

"Then we were taking her to Disneyland in Florida – paid for by Caudwell Children – and she had a fit when we were at Gatwick airport.

"We were just a couple of hours away from flying and we ended up in hospital in Surrey.

"So to make up for that, we decided to take her on a family holiday to Spain at Easter. She was rushed to hospital again with another nasty chest infection. We nearly lost her another two times then.

"She's had such a rough few months, but she gets us through it because she's so strong. She never complains and she always has a smile on her face.

"She's so special. She's our special little angel."

When she goes to bed, Georgia is placed on a mask ventilator because she stops breathing every seven minutes while asleep.

At one time doctors feared Georgia – who has a brother, Dan, aged 23 – would never manage so much as a smile, but she is now a lot more vocal, and able to say words like, 'Hiya'.

Dad Paul, aged 41, said: "It is double figures the number of times we have thought we've lost her.

"I don't know what gets her through it. She is so strong and she does it all herself.

"She doesn't play by the rules and she keeps defying the odds. She knows she is loved and wanted."