For most people, pregnancy is pretty simple. Those nine months may come with a roller coaster of emotions, but in medical terms, it's pretty straight forward - the egg is fertilized, the fetus grows, and roughly 280 days later, a baby is born. For some families, however, pregnancy is far from simple.
Now, abortion may be an incredibly divisive topic in society, but if doctors advised you to consider termination five times throughout your pregnancy, you may just consider taking them up on the option.
This was the case with Rob and Shelly Wall, who, after falling pregnant, were told by doctors that their unborn son was not developing correctly, and would only be born with 2% of a brain. But they stuck by their parental instincts, and it paid off.
Their son Noah was born on 11/11 at 11 o'clock, but as doctors had predicted, he was only born with 2% of a brain. But as you can see from the video below, the family's appearance Good Morning Britain illustrated just how far their son had come:
Now six-years-old, Noah has quite literally grown a brain throughout his life, and now has 80% of a brain. Noah's story is so remarkable that host Richard Meadley called the talkative youngster a "miracle".
Explaining why they chose to ignore the doctors' repeated warnings, Rob Wall explained that is was all down to the fact they were older parents:
“I think possibly if younger people were offered that choice, they may have felt pressured into taking it.
“Because we’re older parents, we know our own minds and we’re positive people. We wanted to give Noah the chance of life.”
Even when Noah was born, doctors informed Rob and Shelley that he probably wouldn't survive. Recalling those tense moments after Noah was born, Mrs Wall said: “We waited with bated breath and they put a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ notice on Noah."
Following his birth, Noah's parents took their son to Australia and dedicated their time to receiving the best treatment for brain development. After being accepted at a radical brain trainer center, Noah has been having treatment known as “neurophysics”, which consists of a mixture of physiotherapy and cognitive exercises.
Rob told the presenters, “It’s all to do with the brain’s ability to heal or correct the body’s nervous system”.
As you can see from the video, Noah has learned to sit up unaided, talk, and has even managed to go surfing. Now, Noah has set his sights on learning to walk independently, and even wants to start skiing.
Mr Wall explained that the experts don’t usually do give the therapy to kids because of the cognitive side of things but they were lucky enough to be able to persuade them to see and assess Noah and prepare them for when he’s old enough to have that cognitive treatment.
Even the doctors who initially dealt with the family in the UK have admitted that Noah is “extraordinary”.
We wish the family all the best for the future!
