Emily to appear in '˜Born To Be Different' on TV

Emily, 15, was born with spina bifida and has been monitored from birth by the programme which looks at five families coping with a child with a disability.

Every few years, the TV crew descend on Emily’s Burnley home and interview her and her family about her life and coping with her illness.

This is Series Nine, the last visit was three years ago, and Emily will be on Lorraine tomorrow morning talking about the new series which looks at how the children are coping with adolescence and relationships.

“I have just grown up with the TV cameras coming to my house so I don’t really think about it,” said Emily, who is at Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College.

“They film every few years and it raises awareness of each of our disabilities and how we cope and hopefully helps other families if they are in a similar situation.

Emily lives with mum Rachael, dad Richard and younger brother Jacob.

“It is hard at times having spina bifida but it is all I have known. I have had to have a number of operations and a few years ago I had to have a major bowel and bladder operation and had to retrain my bladder and bowel which obviously wasn’t nice,” said Emily who wants to study Health and Social Care at college.

“I have had to talk about it on the various programmes and I don’t really like doing it. My friends think it’s great though as they get interviewed and they like to be on the television!

“I am friends with the others who are on the programme and we meet up with them for the after-show event. They have a variety of disabilities from dwarfism, Down Syndrome to epilepsy and autism and we have all become friends through the programme.”