Sugar Bag Baby celebrates 40th birthday

Thursday, 20 May 2021 12:39

By Katie Dicks

'Sugar Bag Baby' Daniel Hayes has defied all the odds to celebrate his 40th birthday with family and friends.

Daniel was born on May 12, 1981, ten and a half weeks prematurely and weighed just 1lb 12oz - hence the term ‘sugar baby’.

Fortunately, despite being so tiny, Daniel didn’t suffer any health complications, but he did have an undeveloped spleen.

On Daniel’s first birthday, his small size caught the attention of a regional news crew who put his picture in the paper. The ‘Sugar Bag Baby’ went on to be noticed everywhere he went.

His mother, Ann Hayes, told us: “We did get in quite a bit of trouble with him. People thought he was much younger than he was because he was so tiny.

“I remember being told in a supermarket that he was too young to be walking, and then on holiday in Wales I was told he was too young to be swimming.”

Daniel is the eldest of her two children. Her daughter, Samantha, was born 16 years after her son.

Growing up, Daniel attended Failsworth School, before going on to work at a supermarket in Manchester and as a graphic designer in Rochdale.

He now lives in Hyde and has worked at an E-Cigarette shop for the last five years.

For his 40th birthday, the family got together for the first time since the national lockdown in Ashton.

Although they have kept in contact, they had been unable to sit down for a meal. To celebrate, Ann booked a table at TGI Fridays for six members of the family, bringing along balloons and birthday cake.