I was born about a month after my due date as I did not want to come out of my Mummy’s tummy. My skin was all flaky, like a crocodile, as the water had already broken around the due date.

My Daddy held me in his arms and cried, ‘isn’t she gorgeous? Isn’t she gorgeous?’

My big brother, Mark, came to visit me and gave me a brown teddy. I still have it to this day!

As a gift to my big brother I went to the shops in my Mummy’s tummy and bought a toy my big brother wanted to say, ‘thank you for my present!’ Today he still has the toy after a very long time!

Photographs were taken on a camera when I was still in hospital as a newborn. My Daddy went to get it developed in a photography shop (things were different back then!) and the pictures didn’t come out!

I was very clever when I was a toddler. I used to tie my own shoelaces before I was aged three!

My Mummy knew there was something wrong with me but she didn’t know what. The Health Visitor kept saying, ‘there’s nothing wrong with her. She can tie her own shoelaces.’

My Mummy didn’t agree. My Mummy persisted and eventually I got seen by an audiologist who was very angry my mummy had a direct line to his office. We had jumped the queue by many months for me to be seen by him.

A hearing test was done where I was to put a toy into a box when I heard a sound. (I didn’t.)

The audiologist then asked me to point to my nose, mouth, ears and eyes. I sat staring at him.

When he pointed to his eyes I then pointed to mine. When he pointed to his nose I then copied him as well.

The audiologist then confirmed to my Mummy that I am deaf and he said sorry to my Mummy for doubting her.

At that time my Daddy’s job was relocating to a market town near Oxford. It was the best things for me as I was fitted hearing aids within a week at John Radcliffe hospital. I then had teachers of the deaf and speech therapy to help me learn to speak.

I didn’t learn to speak until I was aged five. My Mummy talked to me a lot to get me used to wearing hearing aids. I can now speak like a hearing person thanks to people like my Mummy!

I have always been in mainstream education which has been challenging. Many times I cried and I was always tired because of concentrating all day.

As I got older, I went to a big city and found my deaf family! I felt at home and could relate to them about deaf issues in the hearing world.

I then wanted to write fictionally about deaf issues and here I am today, a deaf children’s author!