A BABY has tragically died of whooping cough, aged only five weeks old.

Eliza-Mae Benson was simply too young for her tiny lungs to cope with the virus, said her devastated parents Dawn and David.

The couple, from Sutton-on-the-Forest, near York, urged other parents to get their babies vaccinated against the disease at the earliest opportunity, when they are eight weeks old.

They also advised parents to ensure their pre-school children have a booster jab to help protect babies by building “herd immunity.”

Dawn, 36, a York Hospital nurse, said Eliza-Mae had been an extra special gift for them because doctors had thought Dawn would never be able to get pregnant. She said that after a Valentine’s Day conception, the couple had been overjoyed, but her pregnancy had been fraught, with doctors operating on her in the early stages because they wrongly thought it was ectopic.

Dawn also spent the last ten weeks or so before her baby was born having bed rest at York Hospital because of further complications. But Eliza-Mae was born perfectly healthy, weighing just under 8lbs.

“It was a dream come true,” said David, an accountant. “We were over the moon.”

Dawn said: “She was really beautiful. She hardly ever cried and fed really well.”

But then, just under a fortnight ago, Eliza-Mae became “snuffly”. The couple thought at first it was just a cold but took her to hospital as a precaution as her temperature was high and she stayed in for a couple of days before being discharged, apparently all right. But then she developed a cough.

“She was coughing and coughing and each cough ended with a ‘who, who, who’ sound. My mother, who looked after me when I caught it when I was four, said it sounded like whooping cough.”

By Friday last week, after returning to York Hospital, Eliza-Mae was first put in an oxygen tent and then had to be ventilated. She was transferred to Sheffield Children’s Hospital, where medics battled all day to save her before she died in her parents’ arms last Saturday evening.

The couple, who have two adopted children, aged four and eight, said they had been overwhelmed by the love and support they had received in Sutton since the tragedy.

Eliza-Mae will be buried at a private ceremony at 12.30pm on Monday, followed by a celebration of her short life at 2pm at All Hallows Church, Sutton-on-the-Forest.

The Michael Jackson song Gone Too Soon and Westlife’s She’s So Beautiful To Me will be played to the accompaniment of pictures of the baby. Donations will go to the intensive care unit at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

“We are very lucky to have had Eliza-Mae, and the five weeks we had with her were very special, and we will remember them forever,” said David.