A DISABLED man given a week to live after being born with cerebral palsy is to mark his 60th birthday with a stretch limo party next month.

Stephen Dombrowski was in such poor condition he was he was given an emergency hospital christening in hospital two days after his mum Edna gave birth.

Mr Dombrowski, of Malpas Road, Newport, also suffered from epilepsy but his fits stopped for some unknown reason when he was seven.

He initially crawled on the floor but learned to walk with sticks at a special school, then went on to make coat hangers and scuba diving rubber mats at a work centre in Cwmbran.

On May 1, Mr Dombrowski is to go around Newport in a chauffeur-driven limousine picking up a dozen friends before enjoying a meal at the restaurant called Peachy Keens in the city.

He said: “I’ve never done that before. It’s the first time ever. It’s something I look forward to very much - I can’t wait.

“I’m just lucky to be here. I had fits until I was seven and I’m still here to tell the tale.”

His sister Christine, 61, told the Argus how the emergency baptism took place at St Woolos Hospital on May 3, 1954.

His late parents Edna and Paul helped to bring him up despite his medical problems and when he was eight he went to Craig-y-Parc special school in Cardiff.

There he learnt to walk on sticks and when he was 18 went on to work at a Cwmbran centre, which was run by the disability charity Scope.

Ms Dombrowski recalled how he was in the Scouts at the special school and enjoy spinning pop records for workers at the Cwmbran centre.

She is his full time carer and helped to book the stretch limo and restaurant for May 1.

She said: “He was not expected to live beyond a week. He’s nearly 60, it’s amazing. It gives hope to people."