“She told me she was sure he wasn’t, and it seemed everyone else was blind to what I saw so clearly. None of the doctors or health visitors even mentioned it, so for seven months, I blundered, trying to convince myself that my baby was ‘normal’”.
The following summer, her son Stephen became ill, and Gillian took him to the hospital. And after examining him, a pediatrician referred to him as a ‘Mongol baby.’
“Questions I couldn’t answer raced through my mind: Had I caused his disability? How terrible would his life be? What impact would it have on his brother Andrew, then only two? How on earth would Roy and I cope?
That was the day normal life ended for Roy, Andrew, and me.”
Gillian explained how she and her family went through many struggles after Stephen’s birth.
“In his early years, it caused me physical pain seeing friends’ toddlers reaching milestones when my son was still so baby-like. Stephen didn’t walk until he was five and couldn’t speak – even now, he has only a few words and communicates using Makaton, a sign language. This made working out his needs a constant struggle.
His incontinence meant that washing his clothes and bedding became my full-time job.” She said.
“So, exhausted and racked with guilt, I was close to the end of my tether when he became unwell shortly after Stephen’s third birthday and cried incessantly for three days and nights.”
“Worse still, he could give me no indication of what was wrong with him.” She continued. “My husband was working late shifts as a driver at the time, and by the third night, I couldn’t stand the noise any longer.”
“In a rage, I picked Stephen up, intending to throw him down our flight of stairs. Thankfully, by the time I reached the top step, I thought, ‘What on earth am I doing?’ and put him back into his cot.
