Dhillon Manku weighed just 3lb 9oz when he was born eight weeks early, and owes his life to the care he received at Kingston Hospital's neonatal unit in South London.
Mum Sharn, 35, has told how she and Dhillon were separated after the emergency C-section while she was taken to a high dependency unit for low blood pressure and he was placed in an incubator.
The ordeal left Sharn unable to speak for three days: "I was separated from his straight away, I didn't know how I'd get through it," she said.
"I didn't understand what had happened, I just wanted to make sure Dhillon was okay."
As Dhillon and Sharn, who had suffered severe pre-eclampsia during her pregnancy, slowly recovered, the family remained indebted to Born Too Soon – the charity that helped fund the neonatal unit where Dhillon spent his first days.
“As he got older Dhillon started asking why he was put in a glass," explained HR manager Sharn, who lives in Surbiton, South West London, with her husband Jas, 40, Dhillon and one-year-old baby Jessica.
"When he was four I explained to him it was because he was too eager to come into the world – in words that he could understand."
She then took him on a tour around Kingston Hospital, where he chatted to nurses and was fascinated by the equipment.
When he came home he asked: “Mummy, can you buy an incubator so we can look after other babies that come out mummies’ tummies too early?”
There the idea was born – and Dhillon's dedication to his cause has since attracted worldwide support.
Celebs including Strictly Come Dancing's Dr Ranj Singh and Spanish footballer Juan Mata Garcia have all rallied around the determined youngster, who completed a 60m sponsored swim earlier this month.
His achievements are all the more amazing given that the little fighter spent his first birthday in intensive care – and has suffered five life-threatening bouts of pneumonia since he came into the world.
And Dhillon hasn't stopped at just the swim. He has now persuaded his school friends to join him on a mass sponsored "bounce" at a trampoline park in Croydon, South London, in a bid to get closer to his £35,000 target – the amount needed for a state-of-the-art incubator.
“I’m so proud of him, we’re just a normal family and I’m overwhelmed by the support we’re getting from public figures for someone who’s just an average Joe, they’re reaching out," said Sharn.
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