Ten years ago, one of my nephews entered this world with less than a 5% chance of survival. He emerged from his mother's womb and went straight onto an oxygen tank and into an incubator. In addition to not being able to breathe on his own, the doctors discovered a suspended liver, two holes in his diaphragm and a hole in his heart. My brother and his wife were told to expect the worst.
The procedure that he needed to have performed to fix the holes in his diaphragm had a very low success rate. Thankfully, he made it through, but we were told that his heart surgery would have to wait until he was a certain age and weight. I remember the day we fetched him from the hospital to come home for the first time. He was about 4 months old, and I remember my mother telling us that the doctors said he was too stubborn to die.
He had a long and arduous seven years, of doctors' visits, continually deferred theatre dates, stunted physical development and trying to reach the insurmountable mass of 15 kilograms.
In 2012, my brother arranged a trip to Saudi Arabia for his wife and their four sons, as we had finally gotten a solid date for his surgery. My mother and I went along, and it was by far, the best journey I had ever undertaken.
My photo today is of our miracle/blessing/inspiration and his mother, walking on the grounds of the mosque in Medina. We were very worried about how taxing flying would be on the his health, but he amazed us all from the very first day.
All of us got sick at some point. He did not even get as much as a sniffle.
At home, it was a constant struggle to get him to eat. He was the only person who ate every airline meal, and had the appetite of a grown man for the duration of this trip.
One of the rituals of pilgrimage is to walk seven times between two hills - the total distance is approximately 2.1 kilometers. Adults are spent at the end of it. He walked it all by himself, and even 'ran' some of his laps.
As had become normal for him, he breezed through his adversity against some pretty hectic odds, and survived his heart surgery, (hopefully) his last major medical procedure. His health improves daily, and he is a mischievous, humorous, intelligent little boy.
It is human nature to complain and become despondent at all of the things in our lives that go off-script. However terrible his ordeal was for him and for the family, it has taught me not to wallow in failure or disappointment. It has shown me miracles. It has shown me my many blessings.
And he will continue to be my biggest inspiration.
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