All about me and Whoopsadaisy….

My name is Carys, I am 7 years old  and I want to tell you a little bit about me and why I’m raising money for Whoopsadaisy, a charity that has helped me and now my little brother Ferris.

My story starts in November 2006, when my twin sister Seren and I were born three months early and spent the subsequent months in neonatal care.  I came home when I was four months old.  Unfortunately Seren never came home.

My Mum and Dad heard about Whoopsadaisy, when I was about two years old.  I had been diagnosed with dystonic cerebral palsy when I was about nine months old and presented with low muscle tone, very flexible joints and developmental delay, particularly motor skills.  At the age of two I was able to sit up on my own, had just started crawling and was able to pull myself up into a standing position with support.  I had been using a standing frame and was making progress in building up my muscles, co-ordination and stamina, but could not stand unassisted.   I was saying a few words and was using Makaton to support my talking.

Whoopsadaisy uses the principles of Conductive Education to provide an individualised programme of rehabilitation for children, in order to maximise independence across the spectrum of everyday activities.  It provides a perfect combination of learning and play, to help children develop.

We attended Whoopsadaisy “School for Parents” every Monday morning during term times and I soon learnt the routine, although initially liked to disrupt it as much as I could.    Beata, the Head of Conductive Education devises a programme to look holistically at a child’s development, based around the Early Years Foundation Stage.  Every week there is a theme encouraging physical development, sensory development, cognitive and social skills.  Each child has specific goals set for each term.  It is a real collaborative approach, with Beata working closely with parents to devise realistic and timely goals.  By breaking down everyday tasks into small achievable parts and adding a song and some actions, the hard work is made enjoyable for all involved.  The children love all the singing, games and play.  Learning life skills really can be fun.

By the time I was three I was able to walk on my own. I now attend mainstream school and my confidence is growing from strength to strength.  I can now run (not as quickly as my friends), but can join in all the games in the playground. 

Having the support of organisations such as Whoopsadaisy has helped my family enormously and the charity continues to do so as they are now helping my brother Ferris who is now six years old.  He also has cerebral palsy and is effected physically much more than me.  He is unable to stand on his own and uses a kaye walker to move about, but with the help of Whoopsadaisy is learning to walk with sticks and even take steps on his own!  Ferris attends Whoopsadaisy Saturday School every week and loves being with his friends as they all work hard to learn skills to be as independent as possible.

That is why I want to raise money for Whoopsadaisy.  They are very important to my family and we wouldn’t be where we are today without them.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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