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Page last updated at 20:55 GMT, Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Skater's baby in stable condition

Jayne Soliman (centre) with two friends on holiday. Photo: Solent News
Doctors believe the skater suffered a haemorrhage caused by a tumour

A baby girl who was born two days after her mother died from a brain haemorrhage is stable, doctors said.

Aya Jayne was born prematurely at 25 weeks by Caesarean section weighing just 2lbs (907g).

Her mother Jayne Soliman, 41 - a former British ice skating champion from Hampshire - was declared brain-dead but doctors kept her heart beating.

Tributes have been paid to Mrs Soliman, who collapsed at home in Bracknell after complaining of a headache.

Aya was delivered at Oxford's John Radcliffe hospital on Friday and is now in a special baby care unit in Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital.

Joe Wise, a spokesman from the hospital, told BBC News: "Her condition at the moment is stable.

"She is continuing to make the kind of progress that the medical team would expect but she continues to need intensive care."

The baby's name, Aya, is a word from the Koran meaning "miracle".

In 1989, Mrs Soliman was both British champion and number seven in the world for professional free skating.

Jayne Soliman skating
Mrs Soliman was ranked seventh in the world for professional free skating

She coached fellow skater and friend Abbie Baldwin, who told BBC News: "We will try to remember Jayne as she was. All she spoke about was the baby and all the things she wanted to do.

"The memory of Jayne will live on in her daughter."

Mrs Soliman had been healthy throughout her pregnancy and continued working as a coach at Bracknell Ice Skating Club.

She had been on the ice on 6 January before she collapsed at home.

A message on the Bracknell club's website said it had cancelled skating courses for a week as a mark of respect.

Doctors believe the skater had suffered from a haemorrhage caused by an aggressive tumour, which had struck a major blood vessel.

Mrs Soliman's funeral was held at Jamia Masjid mosque in Reading on Saturday.

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12 Jan 09 |  Health
Baby born to dead mother
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