Ewan’s story

 

Ewan was born 15 weeks premature weighing in at 1lb 13oz in June 1995. Like many babies born so early the first few hours and days were very difficult. In Ewan’s case he suffered a serious bleed to the brain on day 2 which was so serious that there were very real concerns that he might not survive. However in spite of the earliness of his arrival and the seriousness of the heamorage, Ewan survived these major hurdles and slowly it seemed over his first 4 months managed to overcome the many other setbacks which came his way.

Ewan needed the help of the ventilator for many weeks and didn’t manage to breath on his own for nearly 2 months, during this time his parents were unable to hold him at all, in fact it was six weeks before his mum held him for the first time and a further two weeks before his dad held him in his arms.

 

Like many parents Ewan’s mum and dad kept a detailed diary of everything that happened from the moment he was born. 1995 was a long time before access to the Internet became so easily available so all of their notes were gathered  in books and diaries as well as photographs and hours of video. A bit later they compiled all of these notes into a single publication which included lots of pictures mapping Ewan’s progress through his 4 months in the Special Nursery until he got home and for a year or so thereafter. This record of Ewan’s progress was circulated amongst friends and family to help them understand the sometimes difficult journey Ewan had taken from his hurried start in life.

 

The act of taking these notes became an extremely important part of day to day life during Ewan’s stay in the Special Nursery, his mum in particular recorded every tiny detail of his every day for four months which she later found to be a great comfort and purpose as the family all tried to cope with pressures of just getting by when their lives were turned upside down for so many months.

 

Ewan’s 2 older brothers were 14 and 12 when he was born and they also had a lot to cope with during that time, but they proved to be strong and supportive to their parents as I’m sure many siblings do when they find themselves in similar circumstances.

 

Anyway in spite of everything, and it’s as well reiterating that Ewan’s journey wasn’t without it’s problems what with the heamorage at such an early stage, all sorts of minor set backs along the way, the biggest being his insistence to keep us all on the edge of our seats waiting for the next apnia! Hed did get home safely although it wasn’t to long before we realised the lasting effect of that heamorage on day 2 would become a key feature in Ewan’s life.

 

As I mentioned earlier, Ewan was diagnosed as having Cerebral Palsy at quite an early age and it would be fair to say that we have had our ups and downs over the past 12 years but I have to say that in spite of everything Ewan continues to surprise and inspire with his positive and determined attitude towards life which sees him currently in his 1st year of secondary school and coping really well.

 

I guess it would also be fair to say that with Ewan’s condition there are lots of things we imagined it would not be possible for him to do, but more often than not he comes up with the goods and surprises us all, the big one currently being mastering a bicycle, something he’s wanted to do for years, and although it maybe took a wee bit longer than some of his mates, he’s cycling now!

 

We’ve got hundreds of pictures obviously but just choose a couple to sum up Ewan’s Story (so far)