Taylah takes all in stride
Taylah Raisin’s grandmother remembers Christmas 2006 like it was yesterday.
In a hospital on Brisbane’s northside, the family gathered around a tiny newborn willing her to live as she recovered from the first of many surgeries to fix holes in her heart.
But a decade later Taylah’s family will celebrate the festive season at their Redlynch home with a boisterous, charming 10-year-old who has overcome more hurdles than most in her short life.
Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and having surgery to fix a hole in her right eardrum two years ago, Taylah still receives speech therapy.
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last December revealed Taylah’s plight when she was just a few weeks old. Now she is learning to crawl and sit up and has developed a cheeky smile.
“We are just ecstatic,” mum Jacqui Kiloh told “Sometimes I didn’t think she was going to make it but in my heart I always knew she’d survive.”
Taylah still has one small hole in her heart but has recovered so well from open heart surgery in August that she will not be required to have a specialist check up for a year.
A party will be held to help Taylah celebrate her milestone from 11am tomorrow at the Cairns Esplanade, near Muddy’s Playground.
“This is our way of saying thank you for all the help we received from the Cairns community,” Ms Kiloh said. tall as her,” grandmother Liz Kiloh said.
“She’s still tiny but she’s really into Beanie Boos and has to have them sitting in a certain place.
“The teacher in the class has to keep an eye on the other kids because they protect her and baby her but she’s quite capable of doing things herself.”
Ms Kiloh said her granddaughter had developed quite an outgoing personality.
“Taylah thinks she’s the boss and tries to control her siblings,” she said.