A year ago, Scott Graham and his wife Lyndsey Locke thought they had plenty of time to prepare for the birth of their first baby, Hayley.

But a medical oddity brought Hayley into their lives 14 weeks early.

Locke, the daughter of 91原创 Township firefighter George Locke, was 25 weeks pregnant when Hayley was born at Royal Columbian Hospital on Feb. 4, 2010. Hayley weighed one pound 12 ounces and measured only 12 inches from head to heel.

With statistics like that stacked against her, Hayley鈥檚 survival depended in large part on the skilled medical professionals at RCH.

No one could have grasped the infant鈥檚 own resilience, nor the hand that the Variety Club would have in her survival.

Locke had begun to feel minor discomfort in the 24th week of her pregnancy. Tests at Surrey Memorial showed nothing amiss, but when an obstetrician conducted a pelvic exam, he discovered the problem: cervical incompetence, meaning that Locke鈥檚 cervix was too weak to hold a pregnancy.

After several days of complete bed rest at Royal Columbian Hospital, Locke had a C-section. It was two hours before she saw her baby, and 12 days before she could hold her fragile infant.

Her passage from a very fragile 鈥減reemie鈥� to a beautiful, healthy and vibrant one-year-old is nothing short of amazing.

To Scott and Lyndsey, Hayley is their little miracle, and marking her first birthday had to be special.

They decided that instead of gifts, they would ask family and friends to support the Variety Club, the charity which had provided so much for their daughter, including the isolette (incubator) that kept her alive for eight weeks after her birth.

On Feb. 5, the Surrey couple held a fundraiser at the Brookswood Fire Hall, where Lyndsey鈥檚 father is stationed. Setting a goal of $2,000, they provided a well-stocked buffet lunch for about 100 guests who bought raffle tickets and bid on silent auction items.

They raised $4,000 for Variety Club, twice as much as they set out to collect.

鈥淲e want to thank everyone for coming out,鈥� Hayley鈥檚 father said. 鈥淲ithout them, we would not have been able to raise the money for Variety, who did so much for our little girl.鈥�

Today, Hayley weighs 20 pounds and is thriving.

鈥淪he鈥檚 a happy baby,鈥� Locke said. 鈥淪he loves to laugh and smile.鈥�