A YOUNG girl born with a rare health condition and was given less than five per cent chance of survival will be celebrating her 10th birthday in December.
Nine-year-old Isabelle Goldsmith, from Chalgrove, was born with exomphalos meaning her organs are on the outside of her body.
She wasn’t expected to survive during the pregnancy or to live much longer after birth if she did.
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As a result, her parents, Matt and Natalie, said they feel ‘so lucky’ every time Isabelle celebrates a birthday and try to make her dreams come true.
This year, Isabelle hopes to receive 1,000 cards with help from the Oxford Mail readers.
Mrs Goldsmith, who co-founded The Oxfordshire Chocolate Company with her husband, said: “It’s a miracle we got as far as birth with Isabelle.
“When she was born we were advised she wouldn’t make it for more than a few days and every 10 minutes with her was a blessing.
“She spent the first year of her life in the John Radcliffe hospital and had two open heart operations. She was very poorly for a long time.
“She came home and has been and out of hospital since – she has a lot of appointments and she’ll need more surgeries in the future.
“Her exomphalos was planned to be repaired last year by pushing the contents back in and putting a prosthetic muscle in place to hold it all in.
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“However, her doctors and we agreed that she wasn't stable enough to cope with such major surgery given everything she had already been through so for now, she's coping fairly well with her organs still on the outside of her body.”
Mrs Goldsmith said that because of Isabelle’s medical conditions, herself and Mr Goldsmith always ‘go all out’ on her birthdays because it reminds them how lucky they are.
“She was given a five per cent chance of survival so the fact we’re reaching 10-years-old is mad,” she said. “For her birthday we’ve always asked her what she would like and it’s a long running joke that she always asks for something unbelievable.
“When she was four she wanted a ride on a real unicorn and more recently she asked for Hugh Jackman to attend her party as she loves The Greatest Showman – I wish I could have pulled that one off.”
This year, Isabelle wants to receive 1,000 cards after watching a man on television receive many cards for his 100th birthday.
Mrs Goldsmith said: “I tried to explain that the man reaching 100 was amazing but she said, ‘I am turning 10 and that is amazing.’
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“I thought, ‘Actually that is amazing given what she has gone through’. But we have a small family so she doesn’t receive many cards.
“The fact she’s turning 10 for us it a miracle so it would be great if we could make her birthday can come true.”
To send a card to Isabelle before December 16, please address it to the Oxford Mail office: 'Isabelle's birthday', Oxford Mail, Newsquest Oxfordshire, 5 King’s Meadow, Ferry Hinksey Road, Oxford OX2 0DP
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Read more from this author
This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.
Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.
Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland
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