Shattering pain but soaring pride: The incredible family story behind the Boden girl who's stolen Britain's hearts Holly Greenhow, seven, is a child model despite debilitating cerebral palsy She was deprived of oxygen for 35 minutes during her traumatic birth But the happy girl defied doctors, who said she would not last the night By Natalie Clarke Holly Greenhow's birth was the disaster all expectant mothers dread. By the time she was delivered by emergency Caesarean, she had been deprived of oxygen for 35 minutes and her life was ebbing away. She wasn't expected to make it through the night. Doctors told her mother, Fiona, and father, Paul, that if by some miracle she did survive, the prognosis was bleak: she would be virtually brain dead; her quality of life zero. But Holly turned out to be a fighter who clung doggedly to life. Eventually, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Today, she is unable to walk or talk, but - confounding the pessimism of the doctors at her birth - possesses a fierce intelligence that shines through her blue eyes. Holly Greenhow, seven, pictured with her brother Oliver, 10, was deprived of oxygen for more than half an hour at birth. But she has become an inspiration to other disabled children, a supermodel in the truest sense At seven, she also displays an ethereal beauty and this week emerged as the new star of the Boden childrenswear campaign. Fiona, 42, a Tesco trade manager, and Paul, a 45-year-old head of sales for a food manufacturer, live with blonde-haired Holly and her older brother, Oliver, ten, in a large detached modern property in a village outside Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. In the kitchen, Holly and Fiona are choosing clothes. Does she want to wear a purple dress or her green one for the photo shoot to accompany our interview? Fiona holds out her left hand for purple and right for green. Holly's hand hovers before landing on her mother's left hand. The purple it is. As she lies on a sofa having her picture taken, Holly is clearly loving being the centre of attention. Oliver poses alongside her and places his arm around her protectively. Her father hovers on the sidelines and gently manoeuvres Holly into position as necessary. Holly Greenhow in one of the photos used by the fashion label Boden. Her parents hope she will walk one day It is a delightful scene. Watching it, you would never guess at the trials and turbulence this family has endured. After marrying in 2000, Fiona was pregnant with Oliver a year later. It was a difficult birth. The labour failed to progress and Oliver was delivered by emergency Caesarean. During the operation, Fiona suffered several eclamptic fits caused by high blood pressure. Because of this history, when she was pregnant in 2005 with Holly, she was monitored carefully. Holly at school with her mother Fiona, who said: '[At first] I didn't get what I was supposed to get. I wanted another child to replace her. I went through years of anger In the run-up to her due date that November, doctors told Fiona they would induce her or perform an elective Caesarean. They decided to induce her, saying that as the pregnancy had been straightforward it would be safe. For a time, the labour progressed well. But she was fully dilated when the Caesarean scar from the birth of Oliver suddenly ruptured in her womb. The rupture was not visible externally and, having had an epidural, Fiona was numb and did not know what had happened. "My stomach suddenly did an odd movement: that's the only way I can describe it," she says. Fiona was examined and when it was established the baby's head was no longer where it should be, doctors told her they were going to have to perform an emergency Caesarean. She was given a general anaesthetic and was unaware, until she came round, of the horrific circumstances of her daughter's birth. When surgeons opened up Fiona, they were confronted by the distressing sight of Holly's head in her mother's abdomen as a result of the rupture. The placenta had broken away. Having been without oxygen for 35 minutes, she was desperately poorly and needed to be resuscitated before being taken to intensive care. When I came round, I wasn't really with it and kept asking if I'd had a boy or girl. Paul said a girl and she was very poorly, but I wasn't taking it in. He didn't want to tell me how bad she was, but the doctors told him that if he didn't, they would. So he told me what had happened and then the doctors spoke to us. It was very brutal. They said they doubted she would survive the night and if she did she would be brain dead. The doctors were extremely pessimistic. They told us she wouldn't see or hear. We felt bereft. Holly was being ventilated. She was having seizures as her brain started to swell and her face blew up. Pictured left in one of the Boden catalogue shots, Holly's beauty has defied the initial pessimism of doctors I was given a glimpse of her that night in intensive care. There were wires and tubes everywhere. The next few days were terrible. Alarms attached to her kept going off, indicating her breathing wasn't right. Aged one week, Holly was given an electroencephalogram (EEG) to record electrical activity in the brain. Against expectations, it indicated only moderate damage. "They told us to take the results with a pinch of salt," says Fiona. They said the damage was likely to be very much worse than that. 'Because of the brain damage, Holly's spatial awareness was not developed and she was suffering extreme motion sickness. For the first couple of years, she would scream and scream non-stop After five weeks, Holly was allowed home. The Greenhows have an ongoing legal dispute with the NHS that is yet to be settled. At the outset, Holly's problems with movement were not too obvious, but for the first two years it was virtually impossible to go anywhere because she would scream hysterically. We believe that because of the brain damage, Holly's spatial awareness was not developed and she was suffering extreme motion sickness. For the first couple of years, she would scream and scream non-stop, which was very stressful for all of us. When she was two we found out she had been suffering from reflux, which had been causing her pain as well. We treated it and she became better. But important first milestones - when a baby should start crawling, then walking and talking - came and went. A diagnosis of athetoid cerebral palsy was made when Holly was two, a condition characterised by involuntary movements and little body control. Despite her physical disabilities, though, doctors told her parents she was "intelligence intact," as it is termed. From the beginning, Fiona loved her child fiercely, but she admits that for the first couple of years of Holly's life she experienced feelings of deep anger. Anger about what had happened at the birth and anger at how Holly had turned out. She felt cheated - and for a time wanted another child to "replace" Holly. I didn't get what I was supposed to get. I went through years of anger. The seven-year-old is as affectionate as any other young girl. Her mother said she is 'very determined' But when I discussed it with Paul he reminded me that we'd always wanted just two children and, practically, it would be too much work for us. Eventually, the anger faded away. Though it was often exhausting to care for her, Holly gave so much back to her parents. I just couldn't imagine life without Holly. She has a wonderful sense of humour and finds Mr Bean hysterical. She has this chuckle when she finds things funny that is so endearing. She's a very determined girl, she pushes herself. She's taught me a lot, too - how to be tolerant and patient. Holly is able to roll on the floor, but cannot crawl or walk. Though she has little control of her body, she can move her arm, in a sort of hovering motion, to express herself and is able to hold up her head. "Holly's physical disabilities are huge," says Fiona. She can't do anything on her own. She can grab things and close her hand, but none of the movement is fluid. She is unable to feed herself, so I spoon feed her. She has a huge appetite and has three Weetabix for breakfast, but she is very thin because she burns up so many calories with all her involuntary body movements. Holly cannot speak, though she still makes herself heard. "She will say the same thing over and over, but I have no idea what she's talking about," says Fiona. "Sometimes, though, I'll hear a "Mummy."" Loving family: Holly, bottom right, with father Paul, 45, a head of sales for a food manufacturer, mother Fiona, 42, a Tesco trade manager, and brother Oliver, 10. She is fully involved in lessons at school despite her disability Holly's parents are her main carers and she has a nanny who helps out after school for a few hours. During the night, she has a hospital-style bed with bars on the sides so she can't fall out, enabling her parents to leave her to sleep alone. Because Holly is not mentally disabled, her parents felt there was no need to send her to a special school. But finding the right mainstream school was not easy. "We visited a few where they said: "We wouldn't know what to do with her." Then we went to the Hartford School in Huntingdon and they said: "We'd love to have her." Holly Greenhow, seven, at school in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire Holly attends all lessons just like other pupils, but she has a teaching assistant with her all the time who helps her through each step. She loves school and is rather good at maths. She is fully involved in all lessons, even PE. While the other children are exercising, Holly is given a mat and encouraged to take part and do what she is able to - whether it be lifting her head or leg. Holly has friends like everyone else and loves going on playdates. There is one friend whose parents have her for sleepovers, too. Just like we do, her friends communicate with her by asking her questions and waiting for her signalled responses. They're lovely and they mother her a bit. To help with communication, for the past few months Holly has been testing a computer system operated by eye movements, similar to the one used by Professor Stephen Hawking. Last week, her own £14,000 Eye Gaze system, funded by the local authority, was delivered to her school and she has been loaned another one to use at home. "The system tracks your eyes," says Fiona. You might, for example, study measuring liquids and be asked which is the heaviest of five jugs full of liquid on the screen. Eventually, Holly's lessons will be loaded on to the computer, so she can participate more fully in classes. We're going to encourage other children to get involved with the system with her so it will be like playing a computer game with her friends. Her parents also devote weekends and holidays to ensure Holly has a good quality of life. When she was ten months old, a friend told the Greenhows about a Hungarian therapy called Conductive Education, which involves exercises and songs. Holly attends classes in London at weekends and in school holidays and a therapist visits the house regularly. Now Holly can sit cross-legged up to the count of 20, which she finds a real effort, but it is good progress. As she has got older, though, her muscles have got weaker. Holly's mother Fiona, pictured, was unaware of how poorly her daughter was until after she was born. A scar from her previous Caesarean had split, leaving Holly's head inside her abdomen with no oxygen supply But she never gives up. It's our dream that one day she'll be able to walk with sticks across a room. Over the past couple of years, it has become increasingly obvious to her family and carers that Holly is frustrated at being unable to communicate. She has an A4 book with words and pictures on it which she can point to indicate, for example, if she needs to use the toilet or wants to eat. But Holly is an intelligent girl who clearly wants to express herself in a more satisfactory way. Next year, she is to have an operation to align her eyes to enable her to operate the Eye Gaze system more efficiently. 'It's our dream that one day she'll be able to walk with sticks across a room' She is also about to start testing an electric wheelchair. Her parents are also considering Botox to help control her dribbling. "She has so much against her and we're just trying to help her reach her full potential," says Fiona. The desire to make up for what she misses out on was part of the motivation for getting her to model for Boden. Fiona approached the company in 2010 and says the response was lukewarm. It was my mother who suggested it. Holly loves clothes and has always worn lots of Boden. They seemed doubtful at first about using a disabled model, but I kept pushing and pushing and eventually was given a date for a casting that September. It went well, but we didn't hear anything for ages. Then we were given a date for a shoot at Easter 2012. Holly was really excited, but the shoot got cancelled at the last minute because of bad weather. Holly was so upset she cried. She had to go to another casting in June last year and we then got a date for the shoot in March this year in a London studio. Holly talks endlessly in words that can be difficult to understand - apart from the occasional 'Mummy' The people on the shoot asked if she would mind having lots of people around her and I said she wouldn't mind at all. Holly thought it was great fun. The pictures have been used for Boden's online campaign. Fiona is keen to challenge perceptions about using disabled people as models. Supermodels in magazines are airbrushed to high heaven. Even in special needs advertisements, they use "normal" children perched in a wheelchair. I'd rather see someone who's going to use it. It's rather insulting, really. Holly is not signed up to an agency and no other modelling shoots are booked. However, given the positive reaction to the ad campaign, it seems likely she will be invited back to model for the label again. Her mother is all for it. "Her friends do things such as dance classes and trampoline lessons," says Fiona. This is Holly's own thing. Being an independent, strong-minded girl, Holly has informed her mother that one day she will be moving out of the family home. "She told me this and I have asked her several times since and the answer is always a firm "Yes." Holly will always need 24-hour care. We have been told it's unlikely she will work, but who knows? That's a long way in the future. But it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that she could go to university, have a relationship, even have a child. This is what we hope and wish for her and Holly has said she wants to marry. And the baby who came into this world fighting for her life, might just have the determination to do it. Holly Greenhow is a supermodel in the true sense of the word.