Find out more about Grace and watch her video on Grace's webpage: www.gracesfund.org

Thank you to everyone who has helped us get close to our original £50k target. We've now increased our goal to cover another year of Grace's ongoing therapy costs, to help her reach her full potential once she returns to the UK.

If you'd like to organise a sponsored event for Grace's Fund, you can link it to our team page at www.justgiving.com/teams/graces-fund

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About Grace

Our daughter - Grace Windram - is 5 years old and has Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy. This condition (caused by damage to the brain in late pregnancy / birth) means her movements are severly affected, in particular her lower body.

As a result, Grace cannot stand or walk, and other movements are a real struggle. In addition, the spasticity (tightness) in her legs cause discomfort, which will worsen as she grows.

 

Treatments

Now there is real hope for Grace to lead a much more independent life. Grace has been accepted for an operation in the US called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). This procedure (undertaken by Dr Park at St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri) involves severing certain nerves in the spine which are sending the 'bad' signals to her legs, and therefore permanently reduce / remove the spasticity. In over 2,000 cases, it has had a 100% success rate. Dr Park believes that after the operation, Grace will be able to learn to walk in a walker, possibly with crutches and maybe even unaided for short distances.

Grace desparately wants to walk like her friends and this operation may just make her dream a reality. It also brings a host of other health benefits that will help her later in life.

After the procedure, Grace will probably need a second operation to release her heel cords and hamstrings, and a LOT of physiotherapy. As well as intensive physiotherapy in the US and at home, she will continue to attend the Footsteps Centre in Oxfordshire 4 times a year.

 

Grace's Fund - Fundraising Targets

The cost of our trip to the US will cost around £40,000. This includes the cost of the operations, physiotherapy treatment over there, flights and accomodation, and medical equipment that needs to be purchased.

In addition, Grace will need intensive physiotherapy back in the UK. Private home sessions in the year following the operation will cost around £4,000, and ongoing treatment at the Footsteps Centre will cost £5,000 to £8,000 per year.

This page has been set up for anyone who wants to make a donation to the fund. In addition, friends and family around the country will be arranging their own fundraising events - you will be able to see them as they are arranged through the Grace's Fund team page at www.justgiving.com/teams/graces-fund

Thank-you for your support.