By Priyanka Kallur Whenever someone asks me about my life, I never know quite what to say. For many years and even sometimes today, I don’t think of myself as anything but ordinary. However, I am reminded frequently by friends and family of how unique my life truly is. I was born in a small hospital in the suburban area of Bangalore, Karnataka, India on Shivarathri night, an important religious holiday, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. My life started off pretty much the same as any other baby. My mom went into labor two months early with me, and had me via cesarian section, something about amniotic fluid levels being too low. At the time of my birth doctors were prepared for a premature baby, but nobody was expecting me to be born with so many health conditions. At my birth, in addition to being premature (I was 4 pounds at birth), I was born with a rare condition called Cloacal Exstrophy/OEIS syndrome, something the doctors who delivered were not prepared to treat. Nobody up to that point had even detected my condition before, something that can be detected very early during ultrasound today. I needed multiple surgeries and a specialized incubator in a NICU, something that was not in the hospital I was born in. I also had a very high body pH at birth that they were struggling to get under control. Unable, to treat me in the small hospital, doctors told my family to take me to St. John’s hospital, at the time, one of the only specialty hospitals in the city. At barely hours old, I was loaded with my uncle into an autorickshaw, headed to St. John’s hospital, leaving my mother behind. At St. John’s hospital I was very much fortunate, that they had a pediatric surgeon who had seen my condition before and knew how to treat me. Despite having experience treating my condition, it was not an easy task. I was born with my bladder and colon connected and on the surface of my body with no skin. My pelvis was not joined together, no proper abdominal wall, and no vagina, urethra, or rectum. I also had spina bifida, sacral agenesis and mild scoliosis in my lumbar spine. It was a miracle that I survived that night, and I had multiple unsuccessful surgeries before they were able to properly stabilize me. I had to be operated on multiple times in just the first few days of my life.