However, she has been left with a number of after-effects.
With the right support though she is doing well and looking forward to the future, as Eleanor tells us here.
“Hannah was born premature. At nine days old, when she had only been home a day, she stopped feeding and then went floppy.
“We rushed her back to hospital, where she had a lumbar puncture and various other tests. She had meningitis.
“We spent nearly two weeks in hospital with her hooked up to different machines before we got to take her home again.
“Initially it looked like we had come out unscathed, but as the years went on we have found many things. She has had many scans, her brain looks like a kiwi fruit, with a big white blob of scar tissue in the middle. If you ask her, she will tell you her brain is shiny as it shows up really brightly!
“Although Hannah is 11 now, she's much closer to a 5-year-old, due to her developmental delays. She is also functionally blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other. Hannah will need care for life and I have had to stop working.
“Now she attends a more specialist school she is doing really well and looking forward to the future. She wants to be a teacher!”
The family has been supported through our Helpline, Family Days and social media.
Eleanor added: “It’s great to know you're not alone and there is help.”
