The mum of a 'beautiful' girl is celebrating her daughter's birthday, 18 years on from when doctors told her to 'expect the worse'.
Nicola Houghton, 41, from Garston, gave birth to her daughter, Jessica Williams, after having a "completely normal" pregnancy.
But after she was checked over Nicola was "shocked" when doctors told her Jessica had three holes in her heart.
READ MORE: Man hit with £2,000 fine for taking off his face mask in B&M
Nicola told The ECHO : "It was a complete shock. I was 23 when I had Jessica and I had a completely normal pregnancy and had all the tests.
"Even the labour was fine, well as fine as labour is, until they noticed the baby was in distress and had to get her out as quickly as they could.
"They gave her to me and I noticed straight away she didn't look like me or her dad and realised she had Down's Syndrome, but then I was just thinking about how much I'm going to love this girl.
"They then told me she had three holes in her heart and would need open heart surgery at just nine weeks old."
From the day Jessica was born her mum said she was getting "weaker and weaker" and doctors were trying to get her into a stable condition so she could have surgery.
When the day of Jessica's surgery came around doctors told Nicola to expect to never see her again due to her condition.
Nicola said: "She must have been in surgery for eight or nine hours, we didn't know what was going on.
"When we saw her lying in the bed afterwards with all the wires and machines, we knew she was a fighter."
This wasn't the end of Jessica's fights, she came close to death again aged four, when she was due to have eye surgery in Warrington Hospital.
While an anaesthetist was preparing Jessica for surgery he demanded everybody stopped after they found out she had a heart block.
The 4-year-old was rushed to Alder Hey Children's Hospital where she underwent surgery to have a pacemaker fitted. During the surgery, her heart stopped.
But after her open heart and pacemaker surgeries, Jessica went from strength to strength and didn't take life for granted.
Nicola said: "Jessica has always had a 'get-up and grab life' attitude. She has battled the pressures of mainstream life with a huge smile, and she is a successful model, actress and singer/songwriter.
"She's always out and has a better social life than anyone I know.
"She even has this huge scar down her chest from open heart surgery and she loves it, she calls it her zipper and says she's part of the zipper club.
"She inspires me everyday."
To celebrate her 18th birthday Jessica asked her mum if she could do a skydive to raise money for The Friends of Palmerston School, where Nicola works.
She said: "When she first said she wanted to do a skydive, no one was surprised at all.
"At first I asked her to ask me again in six months because I wasn't sure if it was just a phase, but sure enough six months later she asked again.
"Whilst researching making her dream a reality it was quickly apparent there are not many young ladies with Down's Syndrome who have ever done a skydive.
"For this reason, she has chosen the date March 20, which is the day before World Down's Syndrome Day.
"It was me that brought up the idea of doing it to raise money for Palmerston School and she was well up for it. She has always taken an interest in the students."
The money raised will help Palmerston School, a secondary school for pupils aged 11-19 who have serve or profound learning difficulties, get some new equipment.
To donate to Jessica's fundraising page click here.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
