A mother was told her baby son had a "ticking time bomb" inside him after they returned home from a Haven break.
Lyndsey Rowe noticed her then nine-month-old son Mason wasn't crawling properly after the holiday, during which he was his usual happy self.
The tot wasn't moving his right arm or leg, and his face had fallen to one side.
Mason's dad Robert, 31, took the baby to hospital, where scans showed he had suffered a stroke as a result of abnormal blood vessels - called cavernomas - in his brain.
Mason spent the following months in and out of hospital having MRI scans and CT scans before doctors were able to operate, Liverpool Echo reports.
Lyndsey said: "Doctors referred to it as a ticking time bomb - if it didn't get removed it would bleed badly and it could have paralysed him, or it could have killed him.
"It was all of a sudden. A couple of days before we were in Haven.
"We'd gone on a little trip and he was crawling around, everything was perfectly fine. Within two days of coming home we realised he wasn't moving his right leg or right arm, and he couldn't close his right eye properly.
"We were sat on the floor together playing. When I went to move further away from him usually he would crawl to me, and he just lay down instead. He was trying to move towards me but only with his left arm."
The family had enjoyed a trip at Hafan y Môr Holiday Park in north Wales where neither Lyndsey or Robert noticed anything untoward.
But when Lyndsey, of Hunt's Cross, Liverpool, recognised Mason's face was "crooked" on one side, Robert dashed him to A&E.
Lyndsey, who had stayed at home with their eldest son Leo, six, said: "I was in a complete panic. I was trying my hardest not to cry because Leo was with me.
"As soon as we found out my mum was on a plane from Ireland straight away the next morning to be with our other little boy Leo, so I could go to the hospital."
Leo had also previously suffered from seizures as a result of cavernomas, which can sometimes run in families.
Mason, now 16 months old, has faced a huge battle since he was diagnosed. In April, he suffered from seven seizures in one day and was prescribed epilepsy medication.
The youngster underwent surgery on April 18 which was successful in removing the first cavernoma. The 16-mont-old is set to undergo a second operation on May 18.
Lyndsey now wants to thank staff at Alder Hey Children's Hospital for helping to save Mason's life. The family will be taking part in a charity walk at Knowsley Safari Park on May 14, with all money raised via a fundraising page going to Alder Hey.
"He's such an incredible baby. He was giggling and smiling ever since surgery," Lyndsey continued.
"The day after his operation he was sat up eating Jaffa Cakes as if nothing had happened. We've brought him home and he's back crawling again, pulling himself up.
"When we've been [at Alder Hey] all the nurses, all the staff, are absolutely incredible. They make you feel so at home and comforted.
"There's a musician that goes around the wards with a guitar and sings to the kids.
"There's a dog that goes to visit them - you can just see how much of a difference it makes to those children, how much more comforted they feel. The neurosurgeons are unbelievable."
To visit the family's fundraising page for Alder Hey click here.
