"The past does not define your future."

Wise words by Megan Dudley-Bateman

If younger Megan had told my future Megan that by age 30, I would have my bachelor’s degree and be into a master’s degree, I think I would have roared with laughter and said, ‘No way!’

Why? Not because I lack the courage, determination or capacity to do it however the obstacles laid out for me during my infancy and childhood seemed to always follow me, like a car’s rear vision mirror.

In 1990, my year of birth, there were complications with my health, and it wouldn’t be wrong to suggest that I may not have made it through the night, let alone to 2021.

Galactosemia, a Metabolic Disorder which at the time of my birth affected 1 in 60,000 was the prognosis for my first-time Mother, an alarming and frightening prospect surely for any new parent.

Galactosemia is an inborn-metabolic error, broken down, it means for the patient, if infants are not treated promptly with a low-Galactose diet, life-threatening complications can appear only days after birth.

Symptoms can include and yes, I have been affected by all of these, jaundice, feeding difficulty, a lack of energy, liver damage, delayed development, especially with learning and intellect and an early loss of function of the ovaries (Primary Ovarian Insufficiency) As recently as 2016 I had corrective surgery to address my low vision and in 2020 a heart-breaking internal ultrasound to determine the degree of Ovarian Insufficiency, as a 30-year-old woman, approaching 31 this was tremendously shattering and the reality of being without a child of my own hit me like a truck.

However, to this present day I have learned that you are so much more than a label, a diagnosis or the difficulty you may have been presented with, given I was a fairly sick child who couldn’t fully comprehend why I wasn’t able to share in the fun of birthday cakes and other party treats throughout primary school I was able to turn all of the hospital trips, constantly being weighed, measured, with Ultrasounds, X-Rays, MRI’s and other countless times of being poked, prodded, ‘observed’ and having reports of my progress documented.

I think my file at the Royal Children’s was almost large enough to accommodate all of the back-catalogue of Encyclopedia Britannica! That’s the thing about being ‘different’ or ‘rare’ to my family and I, I am Megan, Megan Louise Dudley-Bateman, I love everything to do with Media, Communications and Public Relations and in my down time you’ll catch me watching a true crime documentary, or multiple!

Every single one of us has our own special talent, uniqueness or hidden abilities which make us unique and marvellous. The rhetoric and language in medical documentation has a long way to go, especially when someone is addressed as being ‘Diseased’ or ‘Disabled’, it is broken and damaging, the past does not define or dictate your future, as an individual with a medical condition.

Galactosemia although it has thrown a lot of challenges my way, it has never shaken or rattled my determination to succeed and be happy with my life, after all, this 1 in 60,000 condition has just made me 60,000 times more hungry and driven.