From a baby and toddler Niamh was ahead of her milestones (apart from walking but that was more because she loved being carried everywhere), Donald and I used to marvel at how bright and observant she was, how interested she was in everything, and the way she would light up a room- we never imagined she would ever struggle.

But struggle she did- this clever, quick witted girl couldn’t read and write properly until she was 10.

Primary school was tough for her, her writing was illegible and she struggled with even very basic reading, we raised concerns but her teachers kept telling us that all was fine,  she was just a little behind her peers and that they weren’t worried. That was until she went into P4 where her teacher instantly labelled her as lazy and she was continually being punished for not performing well in class. She would lose golden time and be given detention for not passing spelling tests  It was heartbreaking seeing her spelling tests marked 0/10 ‘must do better’. 

The school pretty much gave up on her and we tried our best at home but it just wasn’t clicking - until, against the schools wishes we got her assessed at the Orthoptic Clinic at GCU and she was diagnosed with Meares-Irlen Syndrome, which means the brain is not deciphering what the eye is seeing- the black and white contrast of text is too harsh for the eye to process. She was also diagnosed as severely dyslexic. 

Following her diagnosis Niamh was prescribed with glasses with coloured lenses and the difference was incredible- over 80% improvement in reading speed and comprehension. 

As amazing as that was, it wasn’t a miraculous fix. We changed schools and she  now had to learn to read and write properly, almost from scratch, and despite her trying harder than I’ve ever seen anyone try, she never quite caught up with her peers.

We were so proud of her determination and knowing how hard it was for her we never put any pressure on her, but secretly worried what the future would hold for our amazing girl who just couldn’t get down on paper how incredible her mind was.

We broke our hearts when she tried so hard and the results just didn’t reflect the effort she put in, and weren’t what she hoped for.

She struggled at times with how easy it appeared to be for everyone else when it was so hard for her. We told her that she wouldn’t see it now but that she would look back when she was older and appreciate the lessons she was learning. It was cold comfort to a distressed 16 year old but it was all we had.

I remember her coming home in tears one night from her part time job in McDonalds because she’d been given the job of writing down the number plates of cars that were being sent to park and wait for their orders. She got every number plate wrong and it caused absolute chaos. The mix of her not wearing her coloured glasses to work out of fear of being different, the bright car lights and just sheer panic that she’d get them wrong led to the inevitable. 

The next day, she went back to work with her head held high. She’d had her cry in the safety of home but to the outside world she was strong and confident , it would have surprised her colleagues and classmates that she wasn’t always the sunshine girl that lit up the room. She only ever let her guard down with us. 

She loved her wee job in McDonalds but Niamh had decided fairly early on that she really wanted to be a nurse, however was terrified that she wouldn’t make it to university. We encouraged her to try and arranged for additional tutoring, and she amazingly, with super-human effort passed her Highers with pretty decent grades.

Sadly, she didn’t quite meet the criteria for University. She needed Higher Maths which she hadn’t chosen as a subject as she really struggled at Nat 5, but thankfully there was an alternative route, she could go to College for a year to study an HNC in Healthcare Practice, which she did and was then able to apply to University…..

And now, 4 years later, our amazing girl is a Nurse. I could burst with pride at the sheer determination she has shown when at times it seemed impossible. The academic side of University has been tough for her, she has had to work really hard to overcome the gaps in her learning, things like spelling and punctuation will always be challenging for her but she has found tools and mechanisms to help her overcome this and by giving it her all, often studying through the night reading and re-reading textbooks and journals, she held her own all through university with B’s and even some A’s!

But where she shone brightest was in her nursing placements achieving straight A1’s across the board. 

After a well earned holiday, Niamh will formally graduate in November, but before that she starts her career as a newly qualified nurse in October having been offered her dream job. 

I know she will be an amazing nurse. And, it turns out we were right- the fact that she has had to work doubly hard to reach her goal has made her appreciate it even more.

We are so proud of you Staff Nurse Gilmour!