Nic gave birth to a perfect baby girl. Then her memory erased her completely.

The doctor had been uncomfortable from the beginning, unable to reach Nic's eyes when he gave her the news.

"According to your blood work, you've got a two-year prognosis," he told Nic, whose mum was seated beside her in the specialist's office.

"So just, uh, get your affairs in order, and we'll manage any pain until then," he finished.

With that grim news, the doctor exited the room, leaving Nic and her mum in stunned silence.

Slowly, the mother and daughter turned to look at each other.

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Then the duo did something that, for those unacquainted, would have seemed bizarre. They burst out laughing, amused by the doctor's awkward delivery of such serious news.

"What else can you do in that situation?" Nic asked Mamamia.

And Nic was certainly no stranger to situations like these.

"I've been sick from birth," she told us. "I was a kid that would get pneumonia every single year, and constant infections. My mum was always trying to get some diagnosis so she could have it treated. But she was told that she was neurotic."

Nic, who is now 47, went without answers for years, and the journey only intensified when she fell pregnant in 2002. The expectant mum was hospitalised on and off for months. Then, when she reached just 25 weeks, she went into early labour.

"They would stop contractions and any dilation, but after about the fourth time of that happening, I was told, 'This is how you're going to be with the rest of your pregnancy,'" Nic said.

The day that Nic welcomed her daughter was terrifying. When she woke up from a nap and put on her maternity skirt, it slipped off instantly. To be cautious, the then-24-year-old got in the car and prepared to go to hospital. 

While behind the wheel, Nic experienced a placental abruption — a serious pregnancy complication where the placenta prematurely separates from the lining of the uterus before the baby is born.

"I narrowly missed a power pole," Nic remembered of the car ride.

Luckily, she managed to make it to a friend's house before an ambulance arrived. Her baby was delivered at a local hospital. She was only one pound, seven ounces. 

"They waited for four hours to see if she was actually going to be viable," Nic recalled.

The first 10 months postpartum were difficult. Nic's daughter was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for a long time, and required neurosurgery to address bleeds on the brain. 

Nic, meanwhile, had a medical scare of her own when a Golden Staph Infection left her unable to recognise her own child.

"I don't really have much memory of it," she said. "I was in the hospital, and they were talking to me like I was an adult. I remember thinking, 'Why are you asking me these things? Why are you talking to me like this? I'm only 15'.

"My daughter and her dad, there'd be times at the beginning of the day where I wouldn't actually have any memory of them. As far as I was concerned, I lived at home with mum and dad in my bedroom."

Hospital staff and her loved ones helped Nic through the difficult time, both mentally and physically.

"My muscles had atrophied a little bit. So I had to put some effort into walking. I remember when I was getting better thinking, 'Oh my God. All I've done is eaten lunch, and I'm so exhausted'. I'd have nurses saying, 'You've done such a great job. Now you have a big rest, because it'll be tea soon,' and I would just fall asleep until tea. Everything just took so much effort."

Nic recovered from the infection, but her health problems and unanswered questions continued for the next decade.

"If it wasn't chest, it was ears. If it wasn't ears, it was throat. It was constant. I never didn't have an infection. I was becoming quite light-on, weight-wise. I was an awful colour, and I was bruising easier."

Then, in 2012 and at the age of 34, Nic and her mum sought out a specialist. While the doctor was wrong about the two-year prognosis, he did diagnose her with hypogammaglobulinaemia — a disorder that's characterised by low levels of immunoglobins, which are antibodies that protect the body from infections.

After further research and appointments, Nic was formally diagnosed with Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID) — a primary immunodeficiency that affects the body's immune system.

Currently, Nic is not eligible for what is called IVIG status — Intravenous immunoglobulin — which is a pooled antibody and biological agent used to manage immunodeficiency. It is donated through plasma.

"It takes 10,000 blood donations to make up for one bag of plasma," Nic explained. "And for a person who has CVID who does qualify, they need it every month. So it has to be really strict."

Essentially, it's a supply and demand issue. There isn't enough plasma to go around, so any available plasma supplies have to be reserved for the most severe cases.

"If you could get every healthy Australian donating blood once, IVIG would be so much more achievable for people like us," said Nic.

Until then, her treatment involves rest and regular antibiotics. The 47-year-old has also found information, community and solace through the Immune Deficiencies Foundation Australia (IDFA). 

"We have a really tight-knit community," she said. "If someone's hurting, then we all are. We all celebrate our triumphs, as small as they may be. We uplift each other when things go wrong, and things are going to go wrong when you're dealing with a disease that affects every single one of your organs."

The IDFA also gives Nic a place to turn to if she is struggling emotionally.

"People don't talk about the guilt of having a chronic disease that is so hard to manage. You feel like you're letting everyone down all the time. You have a community you can reach out and go, 'Look, I'm just struggling'. I've had my community help me so much with my mental health."

At the end of the day, despite her circumstances, Nic feels like one of the fortunate ones.

"I'm lucky that I haven't ended up with some really bad brain damage where I can't live my life independently or have the memories that I have." 

Learn more about donating plasma here, and learn more about the IDFA here.

Feature Image: Supplied.