Ryan Colquhoun, from Glasgow, was born so tiny and fragile that his hand barely wrapped halfway around his mother Claire Nobile’s fingertip—but he miraculously survived.
Born 17 weeks early at just 1lb 7oz (650 grams), Ryan’s heart stopped for 40 minutes. Doctors at Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in central Glasgow refused to give up, keeping him in a sandwich bag to maintain warmth while performing resuscitation. Against all odds, Ryan pulled through and is now approaching his first birthday.
Claire, 25, told the Daily Record, “They never gave up on him. They worked on him for about 40 minutes.”
Ryan’s early days were fraught with challenges. He survived a collapsed lung, brain bleed, E. coli infection, 51 days on a ventilator, four blood transfusions, hypothermia, sepsis, and laser eye surgery at 16 weeks to prevent blindness from a rare condition. Despite all this, Claire calls him her “little warrior.”
“I call him Ryan the Lion—he never gave up fighting. It was an incredible journey but the most rewarding,” she said. “They worked a miracle on him. He’s living proof that babies this tiny can survive.”
Ryan’s birth came as a shock. Shortly after discovering her pregnancy, Claire experienced bleeding and feared she had miscarried. At 17 weeks, a scan confirmed the pregnancy was ongoing, but at 23 weeks, her waters broke at home while she was with her two daughters. She received steroid injections to help Ryan’s lungs develop, expecting a brief hospital stay.
She recalls the terrifying moment she went into labor: “I woke up at 1 a.m., ran to the toilet, and suddenly he was there. I held him, thinking, ‘what if he falls,’ and ran to get the nurses.” Doctors warned Claire that Ryan was extremely tiny and frail. They attempted one final resuscitation, and after 40 minutes of intensive care in a plastic bag, he survived.
Ryan was so small that Claire had to wait a week before holding him and a few more days before he opened his eyes. “It was amazing. He was so tiny, he fit in my bra,” she said.
Even after returning home at six weeks, Ryan faced ongoing health scares. At one point, he was on 100% oxygen, one lung collapsed, and doctors were uncertain he would survive the night. Blood tests later revealed an E. coli infection, requiring sedation to aid recovery.
After a marathon 133-day hospital stay, Ryan finally came home on June 19. Weeks later, he went “blue” at a relative’s house, and his uncle had to perform CPR until paramedics arrived.
Ryan only wore clothes for the first time at 11 weeks and had his first bath at 12 weeks. Today, his mother is raising thousands of pounds to thank the hospital and staff who saved his life.