'Happy' baby Dominic fights Hirschsprung's disease.

Doctors say newborn Dominic Cappello may only live until he is six years old and he will never be able to eat normally.

Two-month-old Dominic was diagnosed with Hirschsprung’s disease when he was just two-days-old and hasn’t been able to leave hospital.

“I was diagnosed with it when I was born,” says his mother, Lauren Cappello.

Dominic's GoFundMe page has raised over $8,000. Image supplied. 

"I was actually diagnosed with no nerve endings in all of my large bowel, but the difference with Dom when he was diagnosed – which was about two days after he was born – he had no nerve endings in all of his large bowel and most of his small bowel so he was only left with 40cm of functioning bowel," she said.

Lauren Cappello made a full recovery as a child because there was enough of her bowel left for her to eat and function normally.  However, Dominic's case is severe.

"He’s lost all of his large bowel and most of his small bowel, but the minimum you can be left with is 50cm," said Ms Cappello.

"If he had more than 50cm he could basically eat orally, but because he just misses out on that. He’s dependent on IV nutrition through a central line for the rest of his life."

Lauren with Dominic at the hospital. Image supplied. 

By the time he was eight days old Dominic had gone through four operations.  His parents were told Dominic would need total parental nutrition (intravenous feeding) for the rest of his life and his life expectancy was only six or seven years.

"His prognosis isn’t great, but watching the Gold Telethon, you just see so many kids who might not make it until the rest of the year - so you just try and hold on to what you’ve got," said Ms Cappello.

His parents are now training to use the equipment needed to keep him alive so they can bring him home. They have set up a funding page to help with his care.

"We’ve been told by a few different doctors that the pump we have to pay for can be up to $7,000 but it’s not so much that, it’s the ongoing care that’s going to cost [money]," said Ms Cappello.

"There’s hospital supplies, kitting out, turning his nursery from a normal little baby boys room into a sort of hospital room."

Dominic's father, Michael, has taken 12 months off work. Image supplied. 

The experience must be a huge shock to the Sydney mother of two as her first child is a healthy 2-year-old who has "never sneezed in her life".

The 34-year-old mother has now become a full-time carer for her son.

"Normal things like putting him into day care will probably never happen because he’s got a central line.  If he gets to go to kindergarten then we’ve got state funding we’d need to organise to have someone with him all the time," she said.

"I haven’t thought that far because I don’t want to think about a poor little five year-old pulling around a little machine."

For now, Dominic doesn't seem to notice that you can't cuddle him without tangling his feeding lines.

"He’s the happiest little baby," says his mum.

Dominic is a "happy baby". Image supplied. 

"He does all normal baby things He doesn’t sleep at night, he sleeps throughout the day. He enjoys playing with his toys, he even loves watching TV at the moment. For a two-and-a-half-month-old who hasn’t even felt fresh air, or seen blue sky, he’s doing really well."

"He’s a bit of a fighter we’re hoping that somewhere along the line, sort of like a little miracle happens, not sure what that is, but he seems quite happy."

Dominic Cappello's Go Fund Me page can be found here.