When you hear the phrase “Growth Hormone Deficient” or “GHD” you would be excused for picturing sufferers of dwarfism as people who suffer from GHD. Most people wouldn’t picture me as a person who is Growth Hormone Deficient, I stand at 5 feet 10 inches for starters, and apart from a few scars behind my right ear, I have no visible signs of ever having suffered from Cancer. I developed a Rhabdomysarcoma when I was five years old, the growth was located next door to my pituitary gland and, as a result of the radiotherapy, my pituitary gland was damaged and I became Growth Hormone Deficient.

I started taking growth hormone (produced by Serono) at age seven; I’ve always been scared of needles so, naturally, I was not particularly looking forward to the prospect of stabbing myself in alternate legs every night. Being only seven at the time, I never suspected it as being something that could or might have an effect on my life. It was probably because of this that I was never concerned by the fact that I was taking growth hormone, I went through puberty as normally as any young man (so quite badly really), but being GHD didn’t affect the way I went about life. I still went on school journeys when the opportunities arose and went out to gallivant on many other various occasions.

I stopped taking Growth Hormone after seven years when I was 16, and had just finished my GCSE exams, and for some reason stopping growth hormone didn’t have an effect on me, I suppose I always saw taking growth hormone as something which, although I didn’t particularly want to do, I had to, so I did it. I think in the end I was relieved to not need to stab myself in the leg every night. My mother has just informed me that I was once quoted by her as saying that, “Taking growth hormone is like brushing your teeth, it’s just part of the routine that you get used to doing.” I think that probably sums up how I felt about taking growth hormone really. I’m now 18 and have just finished my A levels.

For my future I’m hoping to do something within the entertainment industry, I’ve been invited to take part in a “Young Writers” scheme at the Soho theatre, and I am frequently found with a camera in my hand taking pictures at concerts where my friends are performing.