Mitchell was born two months prematurely and had to fight for his life. I was already a high-risk pregnancy and anything that could go wrong did!

We as parents had to intercede and stand in the gap for him as the paediatrician did not expect him to survive. We chose to trust God for a miracle and Mitchell had a miraculous turn-around. The paediatrician said "he's not out the woods yet" and I knew he did not expect him to survive. Mitchell, through God's grace defied all odds and survived.

By the age of three we had been told he was “slow” and “backwards” – the pre-school teacher even did not want to “promote” him to the next class with his age group. He displayed many problems such as speech impairment, deafness, impulsive behavior and frustration. On recommendation of a teacher we took him to a speech therapist and she discovered he was deaf due to extreme blockage in his ears. We were referred to an ear specialist who confirmed 30% deafness as his Eustachian tubes were not draining. This was caused by the abnormal size of his tonsils and adenoids – they were so large the sinuses could not escape. Just after his third birthday Dr Richardson performed and adenoid/tonsillectomy and myringotomy.

However, speech and impulsive behavior was still causing a problem at preschool and the speech therapist visited the school and saw the extreme frustration caused by a mainstream environment. He was referred to Carel du Toit Centre. This organization functions as an extreme-learning/reinforcement pre-school, although they insist they are a “centre”, not a school. Here Mitchell learned to speak all over again. There was tremendous improvement in the quality of his speech and listening skills. He became much more confident and generally enjoyed learning. It was suggested that he may be autistic as he showed uncanny abilities in building puzzles (he would turn the puzzle over and build it by the pattern on the back) and occasionally ran on his toes. Upon examination by the paediatrician it was confirmed that he is definitely not autistic. He is on medication for the impulsive behavior, along with asthma medication and pills to avoid migraines which he takes daily.

I refused to accept anything that the doctors and teachers said about Mitchell. We attend Christian Revival Church (CRC) and every week I would take Mitchell up for prayer, even if I had to fetch him from the Childrens’ Church.

Mitchell began to grow in leaps and bounds. He grew from a child that was really too timid to say “Boo!” to goose and began showing much more assertive and confident behavior.

Today he turns eight. I've seen him grow from a teeny baby that could fit into the crook of my arm to a little (big) boy that earnestly loves Jesus, and knows how God works in his life. He speaks such wisdom and insight into my life aleady. He brought home so many 4s in his report last semester as well!

Happy birthday, my great-big little Blessing! Mommy loves you lots like jelly tots!