@colinmccrudden6507

4 years ago

This is the song that was in the charts when my daughter was born on 6th April 2000, at 13 weeks premature, weighing just 1000g, she was so very tiny, frail and fragile and her skin was transparent, she couldn't speak, move or even open her eyes, but she told me she would fight for her life and always be in my life. The song struck a very emotional note in me, as she laid there in her intensive care incubator, fighting for life. On her third day, she was diagnosed as having Hydrocephalus, where her skull was filling with water from her body, she had emergency surgery that day, to temporarily drain the fluid building up, it worked, but we were given the news that this had been caused by bleeds on her brain, we were also told she was showing signs that she had been starved of oxygen during the difficult birth and emergency ceasarian, and that this would most likely have caused Brain Damage leading to Cerebral Palsy. This was confirmed two days later, we were told that her Cerebral palsy could be as mild as Dyslexia or as severe as that she would never know who she was and be wheelchair bound for her entire life, only time would tell. The song seemed to be everywhere, on every radio station, every TV programme and each time it played, an overwhelming emotional connection grew stronger and stronger, it became the song that even to this day, brings that sunami of emotions and memories of that time crashing down upon me, fetching me to tears everytime. But those tears were never ones of loss and grieving, they were always of joy and loving, of strength and determination.... Amber, as we named her, will soon be 20 years old, she is a great source of strength for me and her mother. There have been many, many surgeries along the way, Amber has managed to show strength throughout it all, remaining a happy smiling, positive child. I cannot call her a child anymore, as she frequently tells me, she is a young woman now. It has been a long, hard journey for her, but she has learned strength & courage far beyond her short years. She is now able to talk, and boy, do we know it, she can walk short distances with her walking frame and splints, she still has problems, which we deal with as they occur. She is my rock, a beacon of stability, she is my daughter. She turned 20 today, 6th April 2020.

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