A very special birthday

The birthday that I am honouring today is a very special one. It is the birthday of a pair of siblings, not twins but a brother and sister who were born on the same day, 6 years and 5 minutes apart. These two have the same mother but different fathers. Their names are Ryan and Sheila Ann Savage (Annie for short), she is named after their grandmother.

What makes the story even more special is the story about the brother, Ryan. From the time he was a little baby he has faced many trials with regard to his health. When he was 8 months old he gave us all quite a scare when he almost died after a seizure resulting from coming into contact with some plastic toys which still had release chemicals on it and because he was always playing with it, his body reacted to these. Every toy he got thereafter got sterilised and washed before it was given to him as a precaution.

Then when he was three years old, he was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma, a very rare form of childhood cancer, he was given a 5% chance that he would see Christmas that year. This was in 2009. He underwent aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments with some of the best specialists in the country and beat the disease.

In September 2010 they emigrated to the UK where weeks later he was diagnosed a second time with the same illness, his chances of survival this time were much higher at 50% and in 2011 underwent a stem-cell transplant and with the help of an experimental treatment, he beat it again. As a result, at the end of the second round I had a tattoo put on my shoulder paying tribute to this victory.

This photo of the tattoo was taken two days after it was done in November 2011.

Since he completed all his treatment, he has had to deal with complications as a result of the after-effects of the chemotherapy and radiation, such as eyesight problems and has been diagnosed with a very rare form of scoliosis (curvature of the spine), but in typical Ryan fashion, he remains positive and upbeat that he will survive the scoliosis because, he should not be walking right now but he is.

Today he is celebrating his 14th birthday and his sister is 20 years old today. A day the doctors believed would never come.

Here they are together in a photo taken just a few months ago. Ryan is already the same height as his sister.

My mom is their godmother. I am very attached to these two precious souls. I love and miss them both with all my heart and soul. I have never known a greater warrior with such a great fighting spirit as this boy. He really is a superhero to so many with such an inspiring story.

I hope you both have had a fantastic day today. Love you both lots and lots.

#blazedesigns #mypassion #birthdaymonth #ryanandannie #specialsouls #blessed #blog #socialmedia #socialmediamarketing #digitalmarketing #facebook #instagram #linkedin #content #contentcreator #contentmarketing #contentstrategy #beyourself #loveyourself #branding #personalbranding #personaldevelopment #inspiration #motivation #nevergiveup #lovewhatido #friyay