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As far as I'm aware I was fine when I was in my mum's womb, when I came through the birth canal the doctors lost my heartbeat, which is normal, but when I came out, I didn't breathe. At this point, the doctors didn't know whether I would live or not. Then they said I would live but they didn't know how long for and what quality of life I would have and how long I would live for. Finally, they said I would live a good quality of life, like anyone else.

 

As a result of me not breathing, in that period when my brain didn’t get the oxygen I needed, brain damage occurred. I was on a ventilator for two days, the ventilator took breaths for me by pumping oxygen around my body and into my brain. As you can see in the photo, I had tubes all over me, this was to help me breathe. If I didn't have the tubes on me, you could never tell that there was anything wrong with me because I was a perfect colour, all the other babies were premature or they had something wrong that was visible.

 

There were about three stillborns on that day, and I was the only one that survived. The doctors turned my life support down so they could find out whether I would breathe on my own, and I did. I came off the ventilator on my sister's birthday, which was a wonderful birthday present for her.