Grieving for my baby…
I used to worry about Isaac... Not any more!
Every mum thinks their baby is the most beautiful in the world.
But my Isaac really was a cutie. Big brown eyes, sweet button nose...
I was a single mum and Isaac was my second child, born in October 2007.
His half-brother, Bailey, 5, loved him to bits. Everyone did. Then, when Isaac was 5 months, I noticed something strange.
‘Isaac seems to have a little hunch to his back,’ I said to my mum Jan, 63.
‘Maybe you should take him to the doctor?’ she said.
So in late March 2008, I did.
Doctors examined Isaac, insisted he was OK.
But I wasn’t convinced. Something about the fleshy lump at the top of Isaac’s spine didn’t look right to me.
So I kept going back...five, six times. But the answer was always the same.
‘Ask to be referred to a consultant,’ Mum advised.
I went one better. A fortnight later, I walked in to Milton Keynes Hospital with my boy.
Stripping him off, the consultant looked Isaac over thoroughly, then fetched another doctor.
After examining him together, they left the room again. My heart thumped.
What’s going on?
Moments later, the first doctor reappeared. ‘I think Isaac may have dwarfism,’ she said. Her words hit like a slap across the face. It was overwhelming. She said my boy had achondroplasia, which means he’d have short stature, short upper limbs, an enlarged head. Overwhelmed, the only question I could think to ask was ‘How tall will he be?’ ‘Most dwarves don’t reach more than 4ft,’ she replied. That was the average height of a 6-year-old. For days, I felt grief consume me. I hadn’t lost my baby, but he’d lost the life I’d pictured for him. ‘He’ll be bullied,’ I wept to Mum. ‘Always be disadvantaged.’ But as time p passed, and Isaac
reached new milestones, I realised it wasn’t Isaac with the problem, but me.
While I’d been worrying about what he wouldn’t achieve, Isaac had been getting on with showing Mummy what he could do.
At 18 months, he started walking – and practically from the moment he was on his feet, he was kicking a ball about with Bailey.
And the sound I heard the most? Isaac’s laughter! Sure, in time, he realised he was different, but he didn’t care.
He was a happy little boy, had lots of friends.
And by the time he was 5, he’d begun to excel in sports.
His doctor mentioned the Dwarf Sports Association UK (DSA). I’d never heard of it, but it sounded like a great opportunity for Isaac.
We were put in touch with the regional consultant and invited to events.
‘You can play rugby, football, and badminton with other people like you,’ I told him. Isaac’s face lit up. ‘Mum, that sounds brilliant!’ he grinned. Then in May 2012, we went to the National Dwarf Games in Birmingham.
Walking in to the centre was just incredible.
The room was full of people with dwarfism, just like my Isaac.
Isaac wore a massive grin on his face. It was like he’d come home.
I barely saw him that weekend as he was off playing with new friends.
He really began to thrive after that.
His confidence rocketed. I was thrilled.
For the next few years, he continued to play sports with the DSA.
As he excelled in football and athletics, I was always proud to watch him play. He was so good that last year, aged 9, Isaac was asked to represent Great Britain in the Dwarf World Games in Canada. Bailey and I cheered on from the stands as we watched him win not one but five gold medals! One of my favourite memories is one day, before a race, I sat in the stand next to Ellie Simmonds, the British paralympian. ‘You need to rest before the race, Isaac,’ Ellie said to him. ‘She knows what she’s talking about,’ I smiled to Isaac. ‘She’s a gold medallist.’ ‘So am I,’ he beamed. We couldn’t argue with that! Seeing everything that Isaac accomplishes never fails to amaze me.
Now he’s 10, and just over 3ft tall. He still wears clothes made for toddlers, and that will probably never change. I accept that now. All those years ago, hearing Isaac was going to be a dwarf terrified me.
But he has shown me that you can do anything you want to do in life.
Your only limit is yourself.
The sound I heard the most? Isaac’s laughter!