From prem baby to black belt
Teen’s achievements proof of willpower, writes Tony Wall.
As a baby, Hamish MacColl was so tiny he could fit inside a margarine container – now he’s a black belt in karate, top of his class in multiple subjects and has written 125,000 words for a science fiction novel.
Not bad for a boy who wasn’t expected to live. When he was born at 27 weeks’ gestation in 1999, he was the smallest baby to have survived at National Women’s Hospital.
He weighed just 440g. His mother Keli Dean’s wedding ring could slip over his foot and all the way up his thigh.
‘‘He was like a baby bird that had fallen out of a nest,’’ Dean says.
‘‘Look how hideous I was,’’ says Hamish as he and his mother flick through an old photo album. ‘‘But you were so cute,’’ she says.
The pair love to riff off each other, sharing a sarcastic, dry, ‘‘slightly nasty’’ sense of humour.
Hamish was in an incubator for the first six weeks of his life and needed a respirator for about a year.
His family believe his very existence may be due to a health professional faking some numbers.
‘‘He was 400g on previous scans and they said he had to be 500g for them to deliver him,’’ Dean explains.
‘‘I said to the sonographer, ‘do you just want to bump those numbers up a bit?’ She got him back at 512g on her measurements – and they delivered him the next day at 440g.’’
Hamish adds, ‘‘Me being alive could completely and utterly just be because one random woman decided to have an act of kindness.’’
He is now 17, 163cm tall and weighs 49kg.
‘‘I’m ridiculously short. My friends and I always joke about it. I’ve stopped growing so I’m going to be this small forever.’’
He describes his eyesight as ‘‘terrible’’. He has nystagmus – involuntary eye movement – which, combined with problems with his fine motor skills, means his handwriting is illegible. He has a dispensation to use a computer for exams.
He achieved excellence in three subjects in NCEA level one last year, and four subjects in level two this year, as well as winning Long Bay College’s cup for excellence in geography.
He’s also just secured a rare place in an online creative writing academy.
‘‘I’m going to be a journalist. My overall goal is to become an author and be able to live off the royalties.’’
At 12 he wrote a 30,000-word story, based on the Wars of the Roses, and at 10 became a black belt in Choi Kwang-Do, although he’s given that up to concentrate on his studies.
‘‘Aren’t you glad you’re not a numpty,’’ jokes Keli. ‘‘Mother, that is a horrible, horrible thing to say,’’ replies Hamish with mock outrage.
Diplomacy is not one of his strong points.
As we left his Whangaparaoa home he said: ‘‘I’m quite surprised, I thought as a journalist you’d be an ...hole.’’
His mother marvels at his achievements.
‘‘He’s amazing. Hamish has got an incredible attitude to everything he does. He’s incredibly stubborn, which can make him a little difficult to live with, but if he sets his mind to something, he’s going to do it.’’
Hamish says he’s grateful he didn’t end up with ‘‘horrendous disabilities’’ and says premature babies are worth saving.
‘‘Everybody deserves a chance to survive.’’