17 year old Olivia shares her experience of being born with OA/TOF.
Video transcript:
Hello, my name is Olivia. I’m 17 and from Australia.
Health issues I had at birth were trachea-oesophageal fistula, oesophageal atresia, laryngeal cleft type 2, and butterfly vertebrae. I was fed by a gastrostomy tube until I was three years old.
Current health issues I have at the moment at 17 are asthma, tracheomalacia, restrictive lung disease, recurrent bacterial lung infections, reflux disease, and I have a fundoplication.
I’m currently fed through a nasogastric tube as I wait for another laryngeal cleft repair as I have grown out of the one I received when I was one year old for a type two laryngeal cleft.
When I see a new general practitioner it’s quite a nervous experience because I’ve had previous experiences when General Practitioners weren’t as familiar with OA/TOF and the associated issues that I had such as tracheomalacia. And thus I didn’t receive the care that I am now receiving with a respiratory specialist.
Something that I didn’t realise was abnormal at the time was when I was younger I always found it more difficult running around than the children around me. I always felt that I was puffed out a bit easier. And recently I was diagnosed with restrictive lung disease, tracheomalacia, and asthma. All of these things made a lot more sense as to why I had previously felt that my lung capacity wasn’t where my peers was and I was getting puffed a lot easier.
Through understanding these conditions, now seeing a respiratory consultant, I’ve been able to treat them and manage them and understand them a lot better for my overall health.
