Silja | die WELT ist zum UMARMEN da

Her leap into the world

Silja dared the jump into the life rather unexpectedly and with a weight of just barely 1,200 g. Much too early, at the end of the 6th month, Silja exchanged the comfort of mummies belly with the premature intensive care unit in the Cottbuser Carl Thiem clinical centre.

Then on her second day of life Silja suffered a brain haemorrhage, approximately three months later the diagnosis of a Hydrocephalus (water head) was added. They implanted a drain into Silja`s head, which discharges the surplus brain water from the head into the abdomen. By now Silja is carrying the third drain.

These serious complications during her very turbulent first life months are shaping Silja`s entire development up to this day. As a consequence of her brain haemorrhage Silja fights against a cerebral paresis, which causes a continuous tensile state in the legs, so that with much training and persistence she only learned to walk independently at about four years old.

In addition to this the family is kept alert again and again by Silja`s epileptic convulsions, the treatment for which Silja needs medication. Her entire physical development is therefore shaped by enormous delays in learning to walk, to talk and to get a feeling for fine tuning her movements.