Coma baby has first birthday

Emmanuel Hawkins, born 16 weeks after his mother lapsed into a coma following an assault, celebrated his first birthday yesterday.

Doctors in Decatur, Georgia, urged his grandmother, Nonnie Hawkins, to end the pregnancy. Even if Emmanuel was born, they said, he could be severely deformed - or stillborn. But Hawkins resisted.

Emmanuel, born three months premature, was hospitalised for 10 weeks with medical problems that included a bacterial infection and low blood pressure, and had to have heart and eye surgery.

His mother was taken off life support two days after he was born.

But now his early struggles are fading into a memory as he slips into the routine of a normal toddler.