Case Study: Clinton Elliot

This month, we had a chat to Clinton Elliott who was born eight weeks early and is now thriving in his 20’s, having gone to university and ending up at a fantastic job.

While premmies, Clinton and his twin brother Robbie spent three and a half weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

We also hear from his mother Gail on the challenges she and her premmies faced.

What are you most proud of? 

I am most proud of having a normal life as a kid. The doctors scared my parents into thinking we were going to be very fragile children with developmental problems.

Where are you working and what does a typical day look like for you? 

I work for the Victorian State Government in Stakeholder Relations. Typically, I’m in the office putting together web content, community meetings and helping build capacity of branch staff.

Do you feel being a premature baby ever impacted you during your childhood/adulthood? 

Clinton: As a kid, I had a very weird tummy. We had a special diet without colours and preservatives and I think this helped ensure I can now eat anything.

Gail: The doctors said it would take Clinton and Robbie until their teenage years to grow into their bodies, as they were both very long for their age. The boys also had a few issues with digestion. The doctors told us the lining of the stomach is one of the last things to develop in-utero so they had stages of having to eat quite bland food, such as pears and potatoes, until they worked out what was wrong.

What are some challenges your parents faced while you and your brother were in the NICU? 

C: I had a hernia and had to have surgery. My brother had issues with breathing and was pretty sickly when we were born. We both pulled through and became super skinny babies. We ended up developing a nickname for ourselves – ‘skunny bunnies’.

G: Clinton had inguinal hernias, and both the boys were jaundiced and had to be tube-fed. Robbie was on a breathing mat in the early days because he kept having episodes of not breathing so well. I also had the challenge of stocking up the freezer with supplies of breast milk for the boys.