Newcastle's SCBU welcomes a very special trainee nurse

The Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) has welcomed a student nurse who was born and treated there 20 years ago.

Sophie Proud from Seaham in County Durham hit the national headlines in 1996 when she was born at just 24 weeks' gestation, weighing 771g. For a long time Sophie was Britain's youngest surviving premature baby, defying the odds through open-heart surgery, an operation on her eyes to stop her going blind, 10 bouts of pneumonia, blood poisoning which almost cost her a hand, and collapsed lungs.

Twenty years later, and Sophie has returned to the level three special care baby unit on a nurse training placement working alongside some of the staff members who cared for her during her 16-week stay.

Sophie says: "I've loved every minute of my placement. It's strange to stand next to an incubator where I once was, but it's been a dream come true to work with the team here, including some of the doctors and nurses who saved my life.

"It's also been amazing to speak to parents here on the unit – to tell them that I was in one of these cots 20 years ago and give them a bit of hope."