[rhiansaadat]

Hello - I am a mother of a son whose peritoneal shunt was implanted initally in the UK after a car collision when he was just 4 months old. The first two years were very difficult - especially since we had just moved to France to work, and so on top of caring for a fragile child, I was learning a new language and feeling my way through the French health system, trying to get back to work, lacking a fmaily network, etc. In those first few months I wondered how we would ever survive the trauma of it all, and I would have loved to have found a support system. It felt really lonely not finding another family with whome we could share it all. This was all - astonishingly 20 years ago - and I keep meaning to find a way to share my experiences in the event that I can offer some support to other parents in a similar situation.

My son is now twenty years old and his life is in no way circumsribed by having a shunt. At 15 - he almost forced me to abandon MY fear of his condition by announcing that he wanted to leave school and move to Seville to study flamenco guitar. All I could do was obssess about private health insurance. All he wanted was his life back. he speaks five language fluently - even though he appeared a bit slow at school. He is now twenty - and a professional guitarist in the city. If you are interested - take a look on YouTube - type in Anoush Sadaat and then watch the second item - a 3 minute clip of a concert last December - and you will see how shunts do not limit people's lives. Above all - mums out there - you must know that your child will come through, and there will be years in your children's lives when they can forget that they have this tube in their heads, and be free!