Lightning man has become a father

Mr Gillespie said life is now "better than ever"

A Merseyside man who was told he was unlikely to have children after being hit by lightning has become a father.

Campbell Gillespie, from Prescot, said it was a "miracle" after his son Brogan Thomas Alexander was born at 0023 GMT at Liverpool Women's Hospital.

Doctors had said the 43-year-old was sterile as he lay in a coma after suffering massive internal injuries from the strike four years ago.

The "proud father" and partner Hazel Topping have proved medics wrong.

Brogan weighed in at 8lbs 8oz (3.9kg),

It is a miracle...life can't be any better thanks to Brogan Campbell Gillespie

Mr Gillespie had been thrown 15ft (4.5m) by the lightning bolt while out training for a half marathon.

'Proud father'

He said: "This is the biggest high of my life. I'm just on a high. I'm a now the proud father of a fantastic baby, after doctors told me I would never have kids but I have defied what the doctors said."

During his accident Mr Gillespie, originally from Lenzie in Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, had 19 operations at Fazakerley Hospital to repair his damaged internal organs and all the broken bones in his face.

The father-of-one now walks with a limp, with his left leg shorter than the other, a result of one of the five blood clots he suffered during his ordeal.

Mr Gillespie added: "There are only two guys in the world who have ever survived what I have, myself and a guy in America."

"It is a miracle. God could have taken me four years ago but now he has given me a wonderful miracle, I can't ask for anything more, life can't be any better thanks to Brogan."