Fairytale ending for Melissa
We love a story with a fairytale ending ... and we got one with Melissa Gibson.
Echo readers may be familiar with Melissa’s story. Her many ups and downs have been chronicled over the years.
So to see her today looking so happy is real heartwarmer.
That she is with us at all is minor miracle in itself.
Born weighing less than a bag of sugar, she was given little chance of survival.
As Melissa herself says: “I am the miracle premature baby who was meant to die.”
She may have been dubbed a sugar bag baby, but she’s not sugar coating her story. Being born 14 weeks premature would have been bad enough, but she had the added complication of undergoing surgery to leave her bowels on the outside of her body.
She cheated death on several occasions and the trauma of those early years followed her through her teens. A mix of health problems saw her battling adversity for many years culminating in a bout of depression.
With so many setbacks in her life, you can’t help but feel for this brave young woman. But, as she reveals today, happiness is there if you look hard enough.
And 27-year-old Melissa has found it in the shape of Andrew Hepple ... her knight in shining armour.
The pair met by chance when Melissa was at her lowest ebb, and they found love together.
After years of courting, Andrew asked Melissa to marry him and she said yes.
Her story is an inspirational one which has the added bonus of a fairytale ending.
She said: “I was the baby who wasn’t meant to survive and look where I am now.”
Congratulations Melissa!