Brave South Shields author who defied the odds shares message that 'it's okay to be different'

Children’s book writer Lauren Davis, now 29, was only 10 when she was diagnosed with scoliosis.

She needed an operation within days to have any chance of surviving and had another six to make her life more bearable.

But Lauren, who also has pain and chronic fatigue, has channelled her experiences into two books.

The first was called The Scoliosaurus based on her life with a curvature of the spine. The second was called The Rainbow Snail about a snail with autism who meets a friend along the way who helps him on his journey of self discovery.

It was inspired by Lauren’s son Jesse-James Taylor, 2, who was undergoing assessment for autism, as reported in the Gazette.

Lauren’s journey and book led to her being invited to read to pupils at Lord Blyton Primary School in South Shields on World Mental Health Day.

Afterwards, she also got to enjoy a craft session with the children and said the whole day had been so important.

Lauren said: “I deal with mental health issues myself it’s very important to inform children on wellbeing and happiness and how important it is to being accepting and understanding of differences.

"Also, understanding people’s emotions is important as you can help people if there feeling sad and they can do the same for you. Talking about it and raising awareness helps everyone.”

The school’s head teacher Joanne Atherton said: “This event was great to have on World Mental Health Day as it raised awareness of accepting differences and that it is okay to be unique.

"The characters in Lauren’s book had autism and ADHD and the children noticed this and discussed it really well.”

Joanne added: “As a school, we always encourage author visits and this linked reading for pleasure with the important message of acceptance.”

Lauren was told she would never carry a baby because of all the ‘metal work’ she’d had on her spine.

But then came the sixth bout of surgery to re-curve her spine and she was told afterwards that she could have a child,

Jesse-James was born in 2020 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.