Harrison Peake, 9, has already overcome the odds.
The Whitley Bay lad - who stars in the third episode of Geordie Hospital - was born extremely prematurely at just 23 weeks, and sadly lost twin brother Raif when they were just three weeks old.
Due to being born so early, Harrison has required more hospital treatment than most boys his age - including major surgery at just 10 weeks old to fix a hole in his heart.
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It was this hole which caused nerve damage and led to a paralysis of his vocal cords.
Those vocal cords were the focus of Harrison's star turn on Geordie Hospital.
Great North Children's Hospital consultant Claire McLarnon is shown performing an innovative procedure which involves administering an injection to "plump up" Harrison's vocal cords and hopefully strengthen his voice.
Though, as viewers will see, the procedure did work, it has not entirely solved the issue for him. Now the Marden Bridge Middle School lad is undergoing physical therapy - which includes exercises using a kazoo - to improve matters further, and in the future surgery could be an option.
For Harrison it was a scary experience - and he's not keen to watch the episode himself. "I can't remember most of it." he said. "But I was a bit scared, especially when they had the needle."
His mum Nadia - who has been a campaigner to raise awareness of the health issues that can arise for premature babies - has watched, but said at times it was difficult. However she said it had helped that the procedure was taken care of by Claire, who had known Harrison since he was 4.
"Going through something like this, it fits into Harrison's story - with him having been born and having survived when his brother didn't," she said.
"Clearly after the surgery, I could hear a difference, Claire heard the difference. But a week or so later we could tell that the injection had begun to wear off a little.
"So it was clearly a bit disappointing but there's a difference in his voice and it has improved. And now the exercises are helping. And as Harrison gets older he can think further about if he wants to have any other procedures."
Nadia also explained about how she'd first noticed something not quite right with her son's voice.
"When children are born term you expect noise when they reach the babbling age, but Harrison never really did that," she said.
"When he did start to speak, his voice was really different. It was more of a whisper and you couldn’t really hear him. By the time Harrison was at school, I noticed that speaking was making him quite tired."
His surgeon Claire added: "Essentially what happened with Harrison was that one side of his voicebox was paralysed so that meant the nerves weren't working."
She explained that, while the procedure wouldn't solve the paralysis, it would help "plump up" his vocal cords and make it easier for them to work and for him to speak.
She added: "One of the benefits of the injection is that it's a fairly simple procedure. It doesn't solve the paralysis but it plumps up the vocal cords and what that means is it reduces the gap."
Claire also paid tribute to Harrison and his family, adding: "He's such a lovely chatty young man and his parents are amazing and really want the best for him."
Looking back on her son's turn on TV, Nadia added: "We are all very proud of him. So many people know of Harrison and his story. People understanding that while for a lot of people being born prematurely doesn't make a huge difference, the earlier a baby is born the more likely they are to need more medical help.
"There's a lot that comes with being premature, it's not something that finishes when you're discharged from the neo-natal unit.
As for the surgery's success, Nadia added: "The surgery was about giving him that chance to fit in a little bit more. Be heard, be confident in himself and helping him into adulthood. Giving him that quality of life.
"Unfortunately the results of the surgery are not what we had hoped for and the effects on Harrison’s voice were short-lived. However, this isn’t where Harrison’s journey ends. We have been visiting a speech and language therapist and working on vocal cord therapy so Harrison can learn to use his voice in a different way.
"Possibly in a year or so, with involvement from Harrison and with him understanding how to use his voice during his aftercare, we may consider surgery again."
Geordie Hospital now airs on Channel 4 on Tuesdays from 8pm. The whole series is available on All4.
