Four years ago, Joey Ho's life could not have been more different.
Then just 12 years of age, Joey from Crumlin, was coming to terms with surviving a life threatening illness but she faced a long road to recovery.
Today, she is about to turn 17 and a Year 13 pupil at Rathmore Grammar School, who is looking at universities to hopefully attend next year.
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While she may seem like your average teenage girl, Joey is much more and unbeknownst to many, she is living her second life.
The date of March 2 2018 remains etched in her memory because it's the day her young life changed forever.
"I had felt a bit sick that week with headaches but we passed it off and I stayed at home. Then I began to feel rather unwell and it all started with me falling out of bed in the morning and shouting that I could not get up," Joey told Belfast Live.
"My brother picked me up and put me back into bed but it kept happening a couple of times until my family realised I wasn't playing about and this was actually real.
"I got checked out by my GP and was rushed to hospital but I was unconscious when I got there. It turns out that I had sinusitis, which was already a danger in itself, but even more than that, doctors revealed I had acquired a life threatening brain infection, called subdural empyema, left side hemiplegia and epilepsy."
She added: "All my dreams had been ripped away from me. All I could remember once I had woken up, was being in Intensive Care in the Royal Children’s Hospital, with tubes everywhere, machines and all.
"I wasn’t able to stand, speak or even move, or do anything a normal 12-year-old could. It was quite terrifying to wake up to that and feel such fear when you've been such a healthy child up to that point," she added.
Doctors told Joey and her family that they didn’t think she was going to wake up again and it was a miracle that she did.
For the next three months, Joey had to undergo intensive therapy in order to recover both psychology and physically and have any hope of ever playing piano or singing - her great passions - again.
"Those were the most strenuous and challenging months of my life," she recalled.
"Every day I underwent an extensive antibiotic treatment for the infection of my brain, physiotherapy to treat my leg movement and occupational therapy to treat my fine motor skills and restore any faith I had for a future as a musician.
"Honestly there were times when I didn't think I was going to actually survive this because I knew I faced more surgeries.
"I was speechless throughout and recovery seemed bleak at times, like a distant future that would never become reality, but it did. By June, there I stood as a 13-year-old girl who defied reality and became a superhero."
Joey says there were times and still are times when she questions why this happened to her. She says she's lucky to have such a supportive family, which includes her parents Susan and Eric, who are originally from Hong Kong, and older brother Jason, 20.
"It was particularly difficult for my brother, who was doing his GCSEs at the same time as his little sister was in hospital on life support. That would have taken its toll on him but I'm proud of him because he came through that with top marks," Joey said.
Now 16, Joey still struggles with epilepsy and seizures but is feeling positive.
"This has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. I have learned that I am stronger than I think I am. This is my second life and it was given to me for a reason.
"Life is definitely something that shouldn't be taken for granted and trust me, you don't want to be in a scenario where you're about to lose yours."
Looking to the future, Joey hopes to study music at either Queen's University Belfast or the London College of Music next year.
"This is where I am today, still recovering and embracing who I am. I thought I was ashamed of my story, but now I am embracing myself and who I am. I have a purpose in life and that purpose is to share my story and encourage others," she added.
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