Amelia Callow
Amelia Callow is a social butterfly.
“She is an incredibly busy little person who I struggle to keep up with and who keeps me exhausted,” said mum, Danielle.
Danielle runs her own business, so Amelia spends two days a week with two carers and goes to the beach and shops and “does lunch”.
She also gets to play with their primary school-aged children as well as meeting another friend her age for a play date; and that’s when she isn’t playing with older sister Annabelle, and her cousins.
“Amelia enjoys being outside, roaming in the garden, swimming in the pool with her daddy, running around the park or jumping through waves at the beach,” said Danielle.
“And she is a huge fan of going shopping especially when it means a ride on the merry-go-round and buying a doughnut to eat when we get home.”
Amelia (who also has the genetic condition Morquio’s Syndrome) was due to start kindy this year, but because she will need an operation during the year, her parents have decided to delay her start by a year.
Danielle said the family continued to receive great support from the CF Clinic at the Mater Hospital and that knowing CFQ exists, gives them ‘peace of mind’ knowing that if they needed extra help they could call on CFQ for assistance.
At the moment her favourite pastime is to put on a CD and dance. “She is itching to join her big sister at dance classes,” Danielle said.
“She also loves her PlayStation Sing Star, which is similar to a karaoke machine. She does a mean version of Eye of the Tiger complete with dance moves and head banging. “And she is a fan of My Little Pony and anything that her big sister is playing with.”
Danielle remembers some advice she was given not long after Amelia was diagnosed. They said to me: “You know, she is still the same kid that you brought home from hospital and spent the last few months getting to know.” After hearing that, I was able to start to pull myself together, put everything in perspective and deal with her diagnosis.
She is the same kid that gave me cravings for salt and vinegar chips when pregnant, along with long periods of morning sickness, the same child that smelled so sweet and clean after her bath, the same kid who I had nicknamed ‘The Beast’ because of her refusal to sleep through the night, and the same child that makes me smile a hundred times a day because she is just so damn funny.
“I have come to discover that Amelia is about so much more than the sum total of her genetic defects. “It was just random bad luck that her DNA lined up the way it did.”
