A PREMATURE baby born 29 years ago has dedicated her outstanding academic success to the mother she never knew.

Sarah Phelps, who was awarded her doctorate on her birthday, came into the world 12 weeks early, just 24 hours before her mother, Liz, was to die from cancer.

Somerset County Gazette:

Happy parents Trevor and Liz Phelps with baby Sarah - but hours later the tragic mum would be dead.

Watching his daughter graduate with a PhD brought back bitter sweet memories for Trevor Phelps, of Milverton, who went through a rollercoaster of joy and devastation on the day Sarah was born naturally.

Liz, who had only discovered she had terminal cancer weeks earlier, clung to life just long enough for her second daughter's birth in Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital, in July 1987.

She had declined drugs that could have harmed her unborn child, who weighed just over 3lb and and was rushed to Musgrove's Special Care Baby Unit, although she was on strong painkillers.

Somerset County Gazette:

Sarah Phelps in an incubator hours after her birth.

Desperately ill Liz's face lit up when she was wheeled down the corridor to visit Sarah and enjoyed a 15-minute cuddle while Trevor looked on.

As Trevor recalled this week, farmer's daughter Liz lost her fight for life exactly 24 hours after Sarah was born.

In one of their last conversations, Trevor told his ailing wife, who was just 33: "You'll have the angels, I'll have the nappies."

He said: "My life was turned upside down.

"Sarah’s sister Hannah was just 17 months old at the time and Sarah stayed in the Special Care Baby Unit until October, when she was ready to come home.

"Sarah was a fighter. She went from strength to strength and apart from being small she had no lasting effects from her mum’s pain relief.

"Before Liz died we discussed the future and how the children should be looked after. I’m pleased to say that I did all she requested."

Trevor, who set up a trust in Liz's memory that raised thousands of pounds for cancer charities, hired a nanny to help bring up Sarah and her sister Hannah and has since remarried, having two further children, Lewis and Abigail, with his second wife, also Sarah.

He said: "I hope Liz would be pleased with me for following her instructions and giving our children a good happy family life."

His daughter Sarah went to Kingsmead School, in Wiveliscombe, where her late mother was also educated, before going on to get a degree in forensic science and criminology and an MSc in genetic manipulation and molecular cell biology before being awarded her PhD in science at Brighton University.

Trevor said: "The day she graduated was also her birthday and it brought back many memories for me.

"I suspect Liz would be so proud of the little tiny baby born 12 weeks premature, who spent the first 12 weeks of her life in an incubator, who was diagnosed as dyslexic aged nine, because I know I am."