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A MOTHER who decided to abort her son because he may have inherited a life-threatening kidney condition is overjoyed that he survived the procedure.

Jodie Percival of Nottinghamshire, England, said she and her fiancee made the decision to abort Finley when she was eight weeks pregnant.

Ms Percival's first son, Thane, died of multicystic dysplastic kidney – which causes cysts to grow on the kidneys of an unborn baby - and her second, Lewis, was born with serious kidney damage and survives with only one, the Daily Mail reported.

"I was on the Pill when I became pregnant. Deciding to terminate at eight weeks was just utterly horrible but I couldn't cope with the anguish of losing another baby," Miss Percival, 25, said.

A short time after the abortion, Ms Percival felt a fluttering in her stomach.

She went to the doctor for a scan and discovered she was 19 weeks pregnant, the Daily Mail reported.

"I couldn't believe it,' Ms Percival said.

"This was the baby I thought I'd terminated.

"At first I was angry that this was happening to us, that the procedure had failed.

"I wrote to the hospital, I couldn't believe that they had let me down like this.

"They wrote back and apologised and said it was very rare.'"

Another scan a week later confirmed the baby also had kidney problems, but doctors told the couple the baby was likely to survive, so they decided he deserved another chance at life.

In November, Finley was born three weeks premature. He had minor kidney damage but is expected to lead a normal life.

"I just couldn't believe that this child had got through it all and looked so perfect," Ms Percival, a hairdresser, told the Daily Mail.

"He may need an operation but as only one of his kidneys is affected he can survive.

"I still struggle to believe just what he has fought through. Now he's here I wouldn't change it for the world."

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