Coming Down from My Mountain Top

Norma Ellis was raised on one of the highest mountain tops in Jamaica. Born in the fifties, at the age of five her father had travelled to England and within the first three months of his departure both her grandmother passed away and Norma was diagnosed with a hole in her heart. In order to survive, she had to leave her mountain top home to begin a long journey without her parents or siblings to fight for her life.

She was not expected to live past the age of ten, but her story of survival faced many challenges of learning to take care of herself, in the wake of the death of her friends who had not survived their own heart illness. Fate was on her side and her life saving journey bought her to England were she was one of the first five children who pioneered the first experiments for a heart valve replacement.