We are loving seeing and hearing about all of your treasures who are stepping up and starting school this year. ???? This is Jake’s story, shared by mum Lucy. ????
“With great pride and admiration our ex24, 735g warrior son is off to school in 2020!
With a tumultuous start to life having spent a two month stint on the ventilator, followed by NEC infection and PDA heart ligation surgery he came home to his two older sisters and parents on oxygen.
He was superbly cared for by Mercy Hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria. Words will never express our gratitude and awe of their expertise.
We live is rural NSW, Deniliquin and I was airlifted to Melbourne for his delivery, this is thanks to our amazing local Dr Ian Dumbrell who saved both our lives at the time.
Our superhero came off home oxygen around 9mths old and his determination was evident as he started crawling around 14mth and was walking by 20mths.
He has endured around 20 hospital trips with several life threatening croup and has always beaten the odds. My money will always be on him and our amazing rural hospital in Deniliquin, NSW. We have a standing order in the emergency department and our little man is well known to staff, this is crucial in the timely delivery of the essential medical care required. I have honestly lost count of the times Dr Ian Dumbrell has literally “saved the day” and opened his airways up again.
Our home is a 4.5hr drive from where our hero spend 18mths at Aurora School, an early intervention specialist school for hearing impaired. This is where he and us as a family, learnt to communicate with Auslan & Key Word Sign. As a family (mum & son in Melb) we were apart 4 days a week so our son could access intense speech therapy. It was a huge sacrifice, mentally, financially and physically but we are now seeing the seeds starting to bloom and thrive with his development and communication.
So with emotion beyond our control we are enormously proud of our strong warrior who has no boundaries we can’t overcome together.
We have partnered closely with his primary school for 18mth to be prepared and organised for a smooth transition into primary school for him. We have supports in place to help and he is extremely eager to head to school with his sisters and friends.
Bring on 2020!”
