In June 2020 The Music Man Project released a video for my new song 'Have You Ever Stopped to Think'. It featured beautiful photographs of our musicians as babies. In this series of blogs, I delve behind the pictures to reveal the stories behind the babies...
Here is Daniel's story, told by his mum and dad...
Daniel was born 4 weeks early on 23rd June 2002. His early birth caught us by surprise, but we were even more surprised to be told there was a suspicion that he had Down Syndrome. This was quickly overshadowed by the news that he had a problem with his bowel. 2 days after his birth he was moved to the Royal London Hospital where he was diagnosed with Hirschsprungs Disease.
When he was just 5 days old, Daniel had a 6-hour operation for a colostomy/stoma. It was later confirmed he had Down Syndrome. Daniel eventually came home 4 weeks after his birth.
The really tough time for us was after his colostomy reversal operation when he was about 9 months old. A few days after his surgery (around 8-9 hours in theatre this time), he contracted Rotavirus which made him really poorly. He ended up being in hospital for another 3-4 weeks just getting over the virus.
From a tough start in life, Daniel has shown all of us how resilient he is and he has grown into a funny and cheeky young man.
Watch Daniel in 'Have You Ever Stopped to Think?'