Baxter Dick wasn’t supposed to live more than a few months.
Fast forward 11 years and, still proving the doctors wrong, the Dyce youngster starts secondary school today.
Baxter has spina bifida, hydrocephalus, scoliosis, and an undiagnosed genetic condition. Among his other conditions is chiari malformation, which is a structural defect in the brain.
The 11-year-old is paralysed from the chest down, which means he is tube-fed and relies on a wheelchair and standing frame to get around.
When mum Ailsa was pregnant with Baxter, she was told he wouldn’t even survive birth.
Baxter ‘living life to the fullest’ against all odds
Such were the doctors’ fears for young Baxter even before he was born, mum Ailsa was offered a termination after a routine pregnancy scan showed serious issues with Baxter’s brain and spine.
But the Dicks have proven themselves to be fighters, and none more so than young Baxter, who is “living life to the fullest” as he enters S1 at Bucksburn Academy.
Ailsa spoke to The P&J as cheeky Baxter was getting fitted for a brand new wheelchair before the big day.
“By the time he turned two they stopped telling me he was going to die,” said Ailsa.
“Baxter never got the memo about not living very long.
“They said he would never go to a mainstream school, but he quite happily went mainstream at Dyce Primary.
“He’s a fairly typical 11-year-old in a lot of ways.
“He has a lot of routine surgeries but he’s at school most of the time and does very well.”
‘I don’t want him to cope, I want him to flourish’
Ailsa knew all along that when it came to secondary school, Baxter would need to go to an ASN school. He starts at Bucksburn Academy’s ASN wing today.
“There’s a very small chance he would have coped in a mainstream secondary school, but I don’t want him to cope, I want him to flourish.”
Baxter is looking forward to the ‘big school’, though he confessed to a few nerves during the last few days of the holidays.
Life will certainly be different for the family with Baxter – like any new S1 – gaining a new level of independence.
“He’s going to be getting transport – he’s never been picked up for school before, I’ve always taken him. So that’s going to be new.
“And he’s going to be that bit further away, I won’t be able to have the same interaction with him.
“At primary school, I was in there all the time, I worked really closely with them. So I think it’s going to be weird for both of us.”
Terrifying and delightful in equal measure
She added: “Obviously it’s a big milestone, and there is that background of emotion.
“At the forefront is the fact that he’s gaining independence. It’s terrifying and delightful in equal measure.
“He’s beginning to take steps towards doing certain things on his own. He’ll go out to meet someone, or he and his sister will go to the park. That’s encouraging.
“But it’s also terrifying, things like people parking across the kerb and you think ‘will he be able to get across it, will he get stuck?’
“So there are things about him being away from me that are quite nervewracking for both of us, because I’ve always been there for him and he’s secure as long as I’m there.
“It’s just a learning curve for everybody.”
A ‘traumatising’ year with eight brain surgeries for the Dick family ahead of the big step up to S1
Baxter starting secondary school comes after a harrowing year for the Dick family, which saw him undergo eight brain surgeries.
“This last year has been pretty rough, we’ve all really struggled,” said Ailsa.
“We’ve been up and down to Glasgow on emergency flights because his brain surgeon is down there.”
At one point Baxter spent two months in Glasgow, meaning his sister Caledonia (8) and brother Brodie (14) had to do without their mum for an extended period.
“Being flown down to Glasgow, coming back up, only to be sent down again, back and forth, back and forth in emergency situations.
“It was utterly traumatising.
“He also broke his femur just before Christmas, just by lifting his leg up, because his bones are so thin. Honestly, it was a nightmare.
‘Things that for other families are traumatic are normal for us’
“And after Christmas, just as we were getting back into life and thinking everything’s over and done with, he suddenly needed two more surgeries in March.
“We were done. It just pulled the rug out from beneath us, it left us reeling.
“Things that for other families are traumatic are normal for us.
“Baxter has struggled a lot this year, it has knocked his confidence.
“But he’s living life to the fullest.
“And starting secondary school feels like a clean slate for us, like pressing the reset button.”
You can find out more about Baxter’s condition, and help people living with it, here.
Conversation