The Early Days
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I was born at 24 weeks and given just a 5% chance of survival. Mum always says I arrived so early because I was desperate to eat chocolate – and honestly, it’s been my favourite food ever since. My older twin sister Darcey was born 20 hours before me (so we have different birthdays), but sadly, she didn’t make it, but she did give me one heck of a head start though. At just 5 weeks old, I took my first big trip – a high-speed dash to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester for heart surgery. I then spent four months in Luton & Dunstable Hospital, where the amazing staff there literally helped save my life. After another three months in Northampton General, I made another big journey – this time to Birmingham Children’s Hospital – for laser eye surgery to stop me from going blind. And all that before I’d even turned one!

Fast forward a bit, and my little sister Freya arrived – she’s wonderful and crazy and frequently subjected to my driving experiments (I only drove her into a wall once or twice, I promise 😄). Mum calls me Smiler because I’m usually grinning, and Dad’s nickname for me is Squirmy – I’ll let you guess why!