Every year, 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke, a statistic you would probably associate with the older generation.
But Jake Gladstone hadn't even taken his first breath before he suffered a stroke.
Jake, now four, was still in the womb when it happened, causing his brain to degenerate.
The stroke caused lasting damage to his development and his mum, Sarah Gladstone, found it difficult to understand how it had happened.
She had been eating healthily, swore off alcohol, exercised regularly – she was in the best shape she had ever been.
"I blamed myself at the time. I thought, 'You've got nine months to look after that baby and it's the only time you can completely look after it," Sarah said.
"I felt I hadn't done it right."
Doctors could tell from an MRI scan that Jake's stroke had occurred when Sarah was six months' pregnant.
The stroke left Jake with cystic encephalomaleacia, which means the left side of his brain was destroyed, causing difficulties for the right side of his body to function.
"We were told not to expect too much from him. We were told not to expect him to be able to walk and talk," Sarah explains.
They were difficult words to hear about her baby but Sarah was more focused on his quality of life.
The part of the brain that had been destroyed on the left side of his head was replaced with cysts.
Sarah was understandably terrified but her main focus was what his quality of life would be like.
"Our first question was, 'Will it affect his life expectancy? Will the cysts grow or mutate and will he be healthy?' When we were told the cysts wouldn't change and he'd have the same life span as any other child, that was enough for me," Sarah says.
When he was diagnosed, the future looked bleak for the tot.
But Sarah, an East Yorkshire police officer, and her husband, Paul Gladstone, are delighted Jake has managed to defy the odds.
Aged two and a half, Jake pulled himself up and managed to take his first steps.
He has also now started talking and can put together simple sentences.
Sarah said Jake being unable to speak was one of her biggest fears because she didn't want him to feel isolated.
"When we were told he had half a brain, your imagination's awful – thinking about what he'll be like," Sarah says.
"As long as he can be understood and can understand, that's what is important.
"I want, when he's older, for him to be able to go into a restaurant and choose what to order and be understood."
Surprisingly, it took some time before he was diagnosed.
The usual symptoms seen in adults, such as speech problems or numbness on one side, are difficult to detect in a newborn.
She noticed Jake had some difficulty moving his right hand when he was four weeks old and took him to a GP.
They were then shown the MRI scan of Jake's brain.
The toddler still can't use his right arm or hand and has a limp when moving his right leg but that hasn't stopped him.
The self-proclaimed "laidback parents" were taking each day in their stride and simply happy to have their bonnie baby boy.
As a side effect, Jake also has global-development delay, which means he progresses at a different rate to other children.
Sarah said his personal skills, of eating, feeding himself and getting dressed, are at the level of a 20-month-old.
But Jake is constantly improving and Sarah said there is no pressure on him to reach a certain level.
"We always thought he'd get to where he wants to be. He's very determined," Sarah said.
On top of everything else, there is the ticking timebomb of when Jake's epilepsy will kick in.
He has focal epilepsy but hasn't had a seizure yet and Sarah has been told that will usually start before he turns five.
"Our lives are like a cooking pot and stuff keeps getting thrown in and we just keep stirring to keep it going."
Although she is upbeat now, when the couple were told the news it was understandably shocking.
"You've got to grieve at the beginning, you've got to grieve for the baby you were going to have," Sarah admits.
"My husband didn't get his head around it as quickly as I did. I knew we had to get on with it."
The couple, who have two children from previous relationships, Liam Dale, 17, and Harry Gladstone, 15, were thrown in at the deep end when Jake was diagnosed.
Although her friends tried to understand, it is hard to appreciate what the family has been though.
"When you talk to them about it, you can see their eyes glaze over because their children are fine," she says.
But Sarah has found her own support network in the area, made up of other mums of children with disabilities.
Jake goes to mainstream nursery at St Mark's preschool in Anlaby Common, and they have been "amazing," Sarah beams.
"He's still improving all the time. When you see him, you wouldn't see there's anything wrong with him.
"He's such a lovely little boy," Sarah said.
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