Alicia Cunningham

Alicia Cunningham
31/07/2013 - 31/03/2016

Alicia was very much a night owl and loved to be cheeky keeping everyone on their toes.
We live in Victoria on the Mornington peninsula.

Alicia was born with T18 M (89%) and she was diagnosed when she was 8 days old. I didn't have a lot of emotions when I was told I was just numb. They told me that children with T18 typically live for 2 weeks to 2 months but as she was mosaic it would likely be longer.

It wasn’t until Alicia was 2 months old when I stopped waiting for her to die and we chose to live instead. Best decision ever.

In Victoria, we have VSK (very special kids) which was very useful for us, we also had help from RCH and Monash hospitals for equipment, respite and support.

Alicia started with just an NG tube, when she was 1 she also had a feeding pump and by the time she was 2 we had 7 medical machines at home to help support her and give her a full and easy life. I currently have 2 other living children (9yo and 4yo) Alicia was still my easiest child :)

Advice for other parents is to make memories. Nothing helps more than looking back on those memories and remembering.

~ Jasmine Grant