How I got my injury

The injury to my arm is exclusively obstetric, ie. sustained at birth. It is mostly associated with large babies like I was, at 10lb 9oz and 22 in.

At the ultrasound checkup prior to delivery my Mommy’s obstetrician determined that I was going to be a big baby, over 9lb, so a C-section was scheduled. But I wanted to be born a day early. The obstetrician on duty that night at the Višegradska Clinic in Belgrade didn’t pay much attention to my Mommy’s records, and decided of his own accord to try to deliver me naturally. My Mommy pushed for eight hours in excruciating pain, until finally she started to pass out, and my heart rate began to drop. That’s when they ripped me out of her, breaking my right arm. My Mommy didn’t hear me cry, I was just taken away and she wasn’t even told if I was alive. They didn’t let her see me for ten hours.

Afterwards they explained to her that I had suffered severe distress, and that the nerve on my left arm had been pulled, causing paralysis of the arm. I was put in an incubator until I recovered. I started physical therapy when I was five days old and have been doing my exercises daily ever since.