Donnellon was born in Liverpool, the fifth of six children and one of the most severely affected of the 10,000 babies born around the world in the 1950s and 1960s to mothers who were prescribed the drug thalidomide during pregnancy. After studying social sciences, he worked as a welfare rights officer for Sefton council. He is now a disability equality trainer and visiting lecturer at Edge Hill University. He lives in Crosby, Merseyside, with his wife, Angela, 45, and their children, Daisy, 12, and Oliver, 6.
I have sleep apnoea [a disorder that hinders breathing while unconscious], so I sleep with a mask strapped to my head that pumps air up my nose. As soon as I wake up I throw the mask off and,
