SHE was never expected to see the candles on her first birthday cake.

But this weekend, Darra Roberts again defied the odds to mark her third birthday. And the family celebration came just a month after the brave youngster went under open heart surgery.

Darra was born with the odds stacked against her after being diagnosed with both a hole in her heart and the genetic condition trisome 18 – also known as Edwards’ syndrome.

The condition sees youngsters develop an extra copy of a chromosome in some or all of the cells in their body. This disrupts the foetus’s development and can even lead to a miscarriage. Just one in 12 youngsters born with Edwards’ syndrome make it to their first birthday.

But the plucky toddler is proving to be a force to be reckoned with after blowing out three candles on her birthday cake on Saturday.

Mum Aisling said the family had had a wonderful time marking the remarkable youngster’s birthday, despite never expecting to.

Together with husband Nick, and children Blathna, 9, Maebh, 8 and Lorcan, 6, the Great Western Hospital Nurse welcomed a small group of Darra’s friends over for the birthday party.

“In many ways it still seems surreal, but it is fantastic. As I said to one of the parents at the party, is there going to be a fourth? But I have to put that to the back of my mind. She is fine, and there is no reason why she shouldn’t have many more birthdays. But there is always that risk."

But just a month prior to the party Darra was under the surgeon’s knife as they tried to tackle a leak in one of the valves in her heart.

“After a bit of a debate with the doctor he agreed that if we left it the valve would continue to leak and would become a major risk, so they decided to operate as the lesser of the two evils," said Aisling.

“I was up and down the walls, it was a nightmare. They originally said she would be in there for three-and-a-half hours, but as it rolled into four-and-a-half hours I began to think the worst had happened. But they were just ordinary delays – nothing untoward had happened - and she fought through it and was discharged after five days.

“Hopefully the valve will stop leaking now, she will have a follow-up in six months.”

Despite wanting to celebrate her third birthday, the family tied to keep it slightly low-key due to her recovery, welcoming just a small group of her friends for the party and cake.

“Even though she was running around we had to try and keep her calm because she does get a little breathless,” said Aisling.

“It was a big celebration but we had to stop her going too wild and bouncing too much on the bouncy castle.”