James, who will be two on Christmas Eve, was born 11 weeks premature, developed chronic lung disease and stomach disease; necrotising enterocolitis – and even contracted bacterial meningitis and swine flu.
Miraculously, he recovered – defying his doctors – and is now crawling about like any other normal little boy.
And, although he still uses a feeding tube, his health has improved significantly and his family are looking forward to seeing his beaming face on Christmas morning.
His mum Heather McGowan, 26, of Pelham Road in Immingham, said her son is "lucky to be alive".
And, today, the family has revealed they now plan to give something back, by donating almost £2,000 to the team at Sheffield Children's Hospital who helped nurse James back to health, which was raised at a family fun day.
Heather, who was told the future looked "grim" for little James, had given up her job as a health care assistant at Grimsby's, Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital A&E department, to spend the last two years by his side.
He spent time in both the neo-natal ward in Grimsby and Sheffield Children's Hospital, where he was moved after developing the stomach disease.
She said: "It looked like he wasn't going to make it because of the damage that had been done. He also had a perforated bowel.
"He had an operation to remove dead intestines and seemed to be recovering well, but then he contracted meningitis and swine flu. "There's nothing anyone could have done to prevent it. The hospital had taken every precaution, but he had a very weak immune system."
Thankfully James is now on the road to recovery and was finally allowed home for the first time in March.
James' dad Andrew, 33, a forklift driver for Quayside on Grimsby Docks, has watched along with Heather and their daughter Isabella, 3, as James slowly reached every milestone. "It's been really hard but we've just had to be strong and be there for him," he said,
"But he's now on the mend and that's all that matters. We will spoil him this Christmas."
Heather added: "I just look at him sometimes and think how amazing it is that he's still with us. You would never know he'd been so poorly. He's like a normal toddler."
"It's been horrendous; I've just felt numb at times and we thought it wasn't happening. It has been like a roller-coaster. But speaking to other parents with poorly babies has helped to pulled us through."
The proud parents added they were "thrilled" with the amount of money that had been raised at the fun day, organised by Heather's cousin Emma Huston, 30, of Bluestone, in Immingham.
With live entertainment, a raffle, magician, disco and caricaturist, the day had everything for families.
Emma said: "It followed a joint christening for James and my son Harry, who is seven months, at St Andrew's Church, in Wootton.
"It was brilliant and there were about 200 people there, lots of friends and family. Everyone donated kindly and we were thrilled with how much we raised.
"We'd like to thank all of the individuals and businesses who donated raffle prizes for the day."
She added that event had been doubly important to the family as James' second cousin Ava Crockett, 2, had also spent three months in Sheffield Children's Hospital when she was first born, due to feeding problems.
Further fundraising
James' dad Andrew is also planning on participating in a skydive to raise more money for Sheffield Children's Hospital next summer. Keep checking your Grimsby Telegraph for details.
Today our reporters will be joining the Wish Upon A Star team as they jet off to Lapland to make the wishes of seriously ill children come true. See Wednesday's paper for full details.
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