By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:47 AM on 20th June 2009

They are holding her as tightly as they can because they know it will be for the very last time.

After deciding to turn their six-week-old daughter's life-support system off, Pete Vincent and Emily Ashurst cradled her in their arms and waited for her to slip quietly away.

But Grace had other ideas. The little girl given only a 1 per cent chance of survival after contracting meningitis suddenly started to breathe on her own.

Emily Ashurst holds her daughter Grace Vincent in her arms waiting for her to pass away

The last picture: After the life support machine was switched off, Grace was expected to quietly die but survived against all odds

Goodbye my darling: Pete Vincent cradles his little girl

The day she was born: Grace with big sister Megan

'We were told she would take a few last breaths. 'But she kept stopping breathing and starting again for the next six hours. Six months in Afghanistan was easy compared to that.'