I am a writer of fiction and poetry. When I decided to write this as a memoir, and therefore a true story, there were questions, especially from family. Was it a good idea to bare so much of my personal life? Why not fictionalise it, invent characters, embellish the story?
There were two reasons I didn’t. One is that, as they say, truth is stranger than fiction. Critics would perhaps dismiss my story as improbable and unlikely to happen to one person! And the second, more pressing reason is that I really hope that this memoir – the only one written about SCID and other rare conditions such as PPROM – helps increase awareness of these medical conditions. I hope it makes someone else feel a little less alone. I hope it stresses the importance of new born screening for conditions such as SCID which, as of 2019, is mandatory in all states of America, but not yet in the UK where a pilot scheme is to be introduced this year. Professor Bobby Gaspar, who wrote the Introduction for this book, is leading a nation-wide trial for SCID screening.
Read more at BooksbyWomen.org.