when she was eight years old

Came across this the other day written when Melissa was eight years old.

Melissa has congenital heart disease, photosensitivity, feeding problems, slow weight gain, developmental delays, recurrent coughing and choking episodes.  Her sleeping pattern at night is largely governed by her environment, this has been so for all her life. Melissa’s body and breathing problems are effected by air – her bedroom cannot have open windows at any time – if inadvertently they have been opened during the day an hour or so into her sleep she will wake with congested breathing and need to be kept upright to cope with swallowing and choking. Hence supervision was necessary when she slept. In winter we trialled a dehumidifier and it seemed to provide an ideal environment and allowed peaceful sleep and fortunately our hospital provided one making a huge difference.