When Carlos Celis and his twin brother Richard were born at South Brisbane's Mater Mothers' Private Hospital fighting for their lives in 2006, his parents were told by doctors at the time to "prepare for the worst".
Mr Celis, now 18, was born with a perforated and obstructed bowel at birth and spent 106 days in the Neonatal Critical Care Unit at Mater Mothers' Hospital being cared for by a multidisciplinary team.
Now on a mission to help other sick and premature babies, Mr Celis who weighed just 743 grams at birth, is lacing up his shoes for the ASICS Gold Coast Marathon to be held from 5-6 July.
Mr Celis is currently training up to six times a week for the marathon and is hoping to raise $5000, with donations going to Running for Premature Babies, a charity that provides life-saving neonatal equipment to hospitals Australia-wide, including Mater Mothers' Hospital in South Brisbane.
Running for Premature Babies has already donated two technologically advanced neonatal monitors to Mater Mothers' Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU).
Mr Celis, from Reedy Creek, said his mum often spoke about the "emotional roller coaster" of having premature twins in hospital and is proud of her son's efforts to raise money to help the state's most vulnerable babies.
He said early into his mum's pregnancy, he and Richard were diagnosed with Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), which is a condition that affects identical twins who share a placenta and experience an imbalance in blood flow.
While Carlos and Richard did not require surgery, there are cases where unborn twins require medical intervention in utero.
"On numerous occasions doctors told my parents I might not make it, and I know this was hard on them," Mr Celis said.
"My parents' situation has inspired me to help other fragile babies fighting for their lives and I hope to do this through fundraising."
More than 1,700 sick and premature babies are cared for in the NCCU at Mater Mothers' Hospital in South Brisbane each year.
To make a donation visit Carlos's fundraising page.
