It's every parents' nightmare - your baby could stop breathing if she cries. Gavin Engelbrecht reports

WHEN Anna Chrostowski cries, her mother has more to worry about than mere hunger pangs - for Anna's wailing can cause her breathing to stop, placing her life in danger.

Anna, who is a year old, suffers from the rare disorder tracheamalacia - a sudden gasp for breath causes her windpipe to collapse, requiring urgent attention.

Her mother, Angela Chrostowski, of Dipton, near Stanley, Country Durham, said: "I have to give her mouth-to-mouth rescucitation immediately and have to closely monitor her constantly.

"The windpipe has a kink in it and is floppy instead of taut and rigid. When Anna breathes her trachea vibrates, and when she is going to cry and draws sudden breath it is like sucking hard on a straw - it nips closed.

"Her body goes stiff and she freezes. Her arms drop to her side, her stomach goes out and eyes roll. I have to blow into her mouth to clear the airway.

"Anna sleeps in an elevated position next to me with a breathing monitor attached. The monitor activates an alarm if it does not detect breath in 20 seconds."

On one occasion, it was the quick-thinking of eldest brother, Adam, who is eight, that saved Anna.

Mrs Chrostowski said: "I had gone upstairs briefly when she stopped breathing. Adam, who is aware of her condition, did all the right things and managed to revive her."

Anna is Mrs Chrostowski's second child to suffer from the condition, which doctors are still at a loss to explain.

Second-born son Tom, now four, suffered the symptoms from three months, which were initially put down to asthma, among other explanations.

Tom is lot better now and the Chrostowski's are holding out hope that, as Anna grows older, she will recover completely.

Both children have been treated at the Treetops Ward of the University Hospital of North Durham.

Mrs Chrostowski said: "The staff there have been fantastic. As an expression of our appreciation we have just given them £1,133. The cash can be used to buy much-needed portable breathing monitors."

The cash was raised by her husband, Mark, doing the Great North Run, as well as through raffle ticket sales from Tommy Curtis' mobile greengrocer shop - owned by Mrs Chrostowski's father.