Andrew Jones, who turns five on Wednesday, was one of a pair of twins born three months premature in 2003.

Sadly Andrew's sister, Alisha, died 15 days after they were born.

The bright and happy youngster from Greenfield in Holywell, has come on in leaps and bounds in the past five years, and his tiny size is a constant reminder of his brave battle for life.

His mother, Donna Jones, 27, today said she is just so glad her son is here after everything the family has been through.

Donna said: "I can't believe he's five because he's still only little.

"Doctors say it's normally the girl who's the fighter, but it was Andrew who was stronger."

After being in and out of hospital in the first year of his life, he is now doing fine.

"We nearly lost him at three months, it was a scary time and he's been through a lot," added Donna.

"With us nearly losing him, his survival is like a miracle and I'm so grateful to have him."

Now Andrew is old enough to understand what happened to his sister, he often talks about her, calling her "an angel."

Donna said losing Alisha was a sad loss and said: "We'll be sitting there and he'll say, out of nowhere, 'mum, is Alisha in heaven, is she an angel?'

"When he talks about her, I think he must have some sort of connection with her.

"Sometimes I think Alisha has jumped into him because he's got such a big personality and he's so lively, he's always on the go."

Donna added that she has had to remain strong for her children throughout.

She said: "It's made me stronger as a parent.

"With his sister gone, I had to be strong for Andrew."

Andrew is a pupil at St Winifred's Primary School and has three brothers, Joshua, nine, Kyle, six, and Samuel, three.

For his birthday, Donna is taking him to Dinosaur World in Colwyn Bay and the family will be going on holiday as part of the celebrations.