A BABY who was brought back to life after being starved of oxygen during birth has died in her sleep.

Aleisha Dickonson spent the first 10 months of her life in hospital but was finally allowed home for Christmas last year.

Her devastated parents, Jenny Holden and William Dickonson, of Webb Street, Horwich, found the 14-month-old girl not breathing on April 24.

They have asked friends and relatives to help celebrate her life at a funeral service that was being held today.

Miss Holden, aged 34, said: "We've asked everyone to dress in casual clothes and bring a teddy bear with them which we'll then send to the hospital. We're also going to release some balloons at the cemetery. We want the day to be a celebration of Aleisha's life."

Aleisha was born four weeks early and complications set in when she was starved of oxygen during the emergency delivery.

She spent 11 weeks at the neo-natal unit in the Royal Bolton Hospital before she was transferred to Pendlebury for eight months. She had to have a gastrostomy when she was about nine-months-old an operation which meant she could be fed through a tube in her stomach.

Aleisha also needed oxygen prongs to help her breathe, but Jenny and William say her last visit to the hospital was in January and her death was sudden and unexpected.

The funeral was being held at Horwich Parish Church. The bears, along with donations, will be sent to Pendlebury Children's Hospital. The family has also pledged to start a fundraising campaign in Aleisha's memory to help fund research into her condition.

Miss Holden said: "When she was last weighed at the beginning of April, she was 18lb 10oz so she was slowly putting on weight even though she couldn't swallow and had to be fed through a tube and needed portable suction and oxygen.

"She'd just started laughing and giggling and loved being around other children. We had to take her back to Pendlebury twice in January because she was susceptible to colds as her immunity was quite low but other than that, she seemed quite well.

"She'd been a bit unsettled for a couple of days so we'd put her into bed with us and when we woke up she was dead."

A post mortem was unable to determine the exact cause of death.

An inquest has been opened and adjourned until later this year.