Chris Harris: Medical rep, father, fighter

In his piece for the Indian Express, Sriram Veera explores Chris Harris' transformation from a versatile allrounder to a medical representative, who spends hours in the operation theatres, assisting surgeons. Then he wraps up work and goes home to play with his daughter, who suffers from hemiplegia.

Five years ago, when Harris's daughter Phoebe was born, she wasn't breathing. Her twin brother Louie, who was pushed out second, breathed first. As the doctors tried to resuscitate her, Harris was in great anguish for three to four minutes before he heard her scream. In a few weeks, though, the doctors discovered that there was a slight discrepancy in Phoebe's left side and right side -- she had hemiplegia which causes problems in movement and coordination. Although the muscles are fully formed, messages from the brain have trouble getting through -- her right side would move but her left wouldn't, and it has led to some trouble. Like a black eye on her second birthday when she fell down and hit a table. He and his wife Linda, who had to spend 7 weeks on the hospital bed after Phoebe's birth, are still learning to deal with it.