Stratford mother’s miracle baby set for secondary school

A girl who was the size of her mother’s iPhone as a baby is preparing to start secondary school.

Glenda Charlery’s daughter Armarni was born nearly three months prematurely on August 22, 2012 at just under 23 weeks.

Armarni was transferred to the high dependency intensive care unit at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel and remained there for three months.

Now, almost eleven years on, Armarni is preparing to join Year 7 in September.

READ MORE: East London blue plaque tribute to designer ‘who set fashion world ablaze’

Glenda recalled the early years of her daughter’s life and said: “After the initial coming out of hospital, that was the beginning of the journey because for the first two years of her life it was constant back and forth from the hospital.

“Any little cold she caught [meant] she ended up in the hospital with chest infections, needing suctions and nebulisers so that was really hard.”

Armarni will be 11 years old in August (Image: Glenda Charlery)

The Stratford mum said that Armarni still struggles to find clothes that fit her: “Obviously having a baby so young and so small, a lot of people don’t realise it’s a continual struggle finding clothes for her up to this day.

“[My] daughter’s going to be 11 in August but she’s the same height as my son who’s going to be eight and her waist is the same size as my son who’s just turned five.

“She’s really petite so as she’s getting older [and] wanting to dress more mature… her waist is really tiny [and] I can’t find things that will fit her.

“If I get something that fits her waist, she’s too tall for it so something as simple as getting a pair of cycling shorts… my daughter’s going to be 11 but her cycling shorts are for a three-year-old.”

READ MORE: New art added to London’s longest art trail running from the O2 to Olympic Park

The proud mum said her daughter is “such a lovely girl”.

“She’s very motherly and caring and she looks after her brothers and everything…”

Armarni weighed 520g when she was born and was immediately placed in an incubator (Image: Glenda Charlery)

According to Glenda, the thought of her daughter joining secondary school makes her nervous.

“It’s quite emotional and I’m starting to become very anxious because, for one, she’s very small, so doesn’t actually look old enough to be going to secondary school…

“Luckily the school she’s already at, you can stay on there until you’re 18 so she’ll just be transitioning to the secondary part rather than having to change schools completely so that makes things a lot easier.”

Glenda added: “Considering where she’s come from, she’s just defied so many things…

“This just doesn’t seem as trivial as some people would [think] because I didn’t know whether she was going to come out alive at all.”