A couple's prayers were answered after their baby’s life-threatening heart condition disappeared when he was born.

Sarah Watson, of Maple Drive, Oswaldtwistle, and partner Stuart Scott began going to church together when a scan of their twin sons showed one had a serious defect in the left side of his heart.

Churchgoers at Emmanuel Pentecostal Church in Accrington said daily prayers and performed a ceremony where a handkerchief is anointed and placed over the sick – in this case on Sarah’s belly. After he was born doctors were so worried about older twin Reece that he was whisked away to a neonatal unit immediately after birth.

But, after further tests, they discovered his condition was less serious than they had thought. Now aged 13 weeks, Reece has instead been diagnosed with critical aortic stenosis, which has a better prognosis.

Sarah, 30, believes that divine intervention played its part and has labelled Reece her "miracle" baby.

She said: "I didn’t get to see him until the day after, when the consultant came to us and said it wasn’t as bad as they first thought. Instead of five or six faults with the heart, now it’s only two.

"The consultant hasn’t got an explanation as to why this happened. They were really surprised and they were just saying that they must have got it wrong when I was pregnant. But I think it’s a miracle."

She added: "When we found out about his condition we started going to church. My partner has been a believer all his life and he encouraged me to go. I didn’t believe at all before but then something bad happens and you just try anything."

Reece still requires regular hospital visits and will return to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in January. He will also need open heart surgery before he is 10.

His twin brother Regan is perfectly healthy.

Two fundraising events for Alder Hey’s family accommodation unit Ronald McDonald House have been organised on the back of Reece’s condition. Fitzy’s salon in Accrington organised a bonfire night which raised £800, and over £1,000 was collected at the Last Orders pub in Blackburn, which recently held a charity chest waxing and head shaving evening.