Hi; as I said on the home page my name is Claire. I am 18 years old and suffer from quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy. Just to round things of nicely; I am also asthmatic. Don’t feel sorry for me. I’m happy enough. All I need is to be treated as a normal human being. By sharing my experiences I hope to give you a better understanding of my problems and the problems of other
CP sufferers.
The First 15 Years
I was born at an early age. In fact it was a very early age if my parents and the doctors are to be believed; and I have no particular reason to doubt them. According to my medical records etc, I was born on 9th June 1988. There is nothing significant about the date, other than it was 14 weeks before I was due to make my initial appearance into the world. Doctors believe this early appearance is the likely cause of my problems.
At birth I weighed in at a magnificent 2lb 0oz. Not the heaviest baby ever, but not quite the lightest either. Apparently there were a lot of problems surrounding my birth; but my memory is not good enough to recall the events and I need to rely on second hand stories to fill the gaps. After birth I was immediately admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit at St. James’ Hospital in Leeds where I spent the next five months before being finally allowed to go home.
