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The One in a Million Baby

Our lives are full of odds. We buy lottery tickets when the chances of winning are as small as one in 40 million. But when the circumstances are a little different and the odds mean something rare and unusual, like a chromosomal abnormality or a medical condition in our children, we dismiss the much higher odds which can be as high one in 800 because we assume it won’t be us who make up that one. The One in a Million Baby tells the stories of the children and their parents who find themselves as that one in a thousand, or one in ten thousand, or even one in a million position and how they come to cope.
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The One in a Million Baby
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Now displaying: 2017
Oct 8, 2017

Jasmine Platt's daughter was diagnosed shortly after birth as having a catastrophic brain condition known as burst suppression. She was devastated to learn her daughter would never walk or talk and they would never know how she perceived the world. Now, six years later, Jasmine is on a mission to help NZ parents who are given a complex disability diagnosis for their child, to get therapy to help them cope. At present, in NZ, there is no specific funding for this kind of grief, and Jasmine is trying to ensure that other parents in her shoes get the mental health support they need. This is her story. 

Sep 30, 2017

Alex knew from early on that Lucy was a unique kid. She was diagnosed with Autism, as her mother suspected, and a few years later she told her parents that she was a girl, she was Lucy. This episode looks at Alex and Lucy's journey, and how Lucy became Lucy. 

Sep 1, 2017

When David and Jane had David Jnr.* they had no idea that anything was wrong. When David Jnr was born with a rare and complex condition that should have been picked up in utero they decided to file a wrongful birth claim. This episode explores what this claim really means for David Jnr and for the family, and what drove them to do it. (*Names have been changed.)

Jul 30, 2017

When Adrianne and her husband had their son Xavier, they discovered he had the incredibly rare condition called Schinzel Giedion syndrome. Children with this syndrome typically don't live past two years old, but Xavier beat those odds and lived to be almost eight years old. Earlier this year he died, just shy of his 8th birthday. In this episode Adrianne talks about his diagnosis, his life and his death. 

Jul 1, 2017

Developmental neuropsychologist Dr. Robin McEvoy and LEAP specialist Kim Gangwish field phone calls, day in day out, from desperate parents who want to help their children. Their children are struggling either with their behaviour, their education or their attention, and they need to know what to do.

After fielding these phone calls for years, Robin and Kim partnered with writer and trauma therapist, Marijke Jones, and set about creating a resource that would replace that phone call. They created Child Decoded, a resource for parents who want to know where to turn and who to talk to when their child's needs exceed those of a regular paediatrician. In this episode, Robin talks about the creation of the book and the struggles of parenting when you don't know what to do next. 

May 29, 2017

When Eric and his wife found out their newborn son, Liam, had Miller Dieker Syndrome, they didn't react the way many couples would. That's because they weren't like many couples. They had already lost multiple pregnancies and suffered the still born birth of their son Ben. So instead of grieving Liam's diagnosis, they got on with being the best parents to him that they could possibly be. 

Apr 23, 2017

When Loretta's son Charlie started behaving in more and more defiant ways, she refused to believe he was just a naughty boy, and sought to find a reason for his anger and aggression. What she found was Oppositional Defiance Disorder with aggression.  

Mar 29, 2017

Unlike most Trisomy 21, or Down Syndrome, diagnoses which tend to happen in utero or at birth, Andrea and her husband Joe didn't get the diagnosis for their son, Kai, until he was already 14 months old. This late diagnosis rocked them, because it forced them to reconsider who their son was and how their lives would look. Andrea tells the story of how they came to realise Kai was what their family had always needed. 

Feb 22, 2017

When Heather Avis and her husband realised they couldn't have children, they turned to adoption. The adoption journey took them to places they never thought they would go and the now have three children, two of which have Down Syndrome. This episode talks about that journey and Heather's upcoming book, The Lucky Few. 

Jan 29, 2017

When Ellie and Mike found out their daughter, Ellie, had a rare form of leukodystrophy called leukoencephalopathy with brainstem and spinal cord involvement and lactate elevation, or LBSL for short, they were devastated.This episode tells the story of the discovery of this diagnosis and what they have done since then to fund research for a cure. 

Jan 12, 2017

Artist, writer and art teacher, David Borden lost his daughter to complications of cerebral palsy in 2015, just shy of her 16th birthday. Since then he has been working on a graphic novel, And So We Rise, which chronicles her life and shares her story. 

Jan 1, 2017

After two miscarriages LaTanya and her husband Greg had their son, Tre. After Tre's birth he was diagnosed with arthrogryposis, a condition which causes multiple joint contractures throughout the body. At age seven, Tre was also diagnosed with autism. Through her journey with Tre, LaTanya tells us about how she become her son's advocate and learned to maximise life and experiences for Tre. 

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