Here is Abbie's story ...

Abigail was born just like any normal abled bodied child. Abbie started to show signs things were not quite right. She wasn't bouncing or pulling herself up on any furniture and at 9 months we visited the doctors and they checked for clicking hips, everything was fine but still Abbie was not showing any signs of being able to do this alone.

At 11 months old Abbie took 3 steps independently and the worrying stopped but the following day Abbie fell to the floor and the worry started all over again.

After 18 months of testing Abigail was finally diagnosed with SMA type II at 28 months. This has left her unable to crawl, kneel, stand, walk or sit up from a lying position independently.

In January 2010 Abbie was hit with a sickness bug and was hospitalised for 7 days where unfortunately she lost any strength she had in her legs and arms.

Abbie has also undergone major surgeries for spinal rods after her scoliosis was at 72 degrees following this Abbie's hips were out of place so had to go back into surgery to have them pinned in.
In November Abbie unfortunately broke her leg and due to the osteoporosis is currently on her 15th week of being in a cast. Following this Abigail continued to get hip pains so underwent yet another operation to have the pins removed from her hips.

Even with all this Abigail is a happy go lucky young lady who smiles even when she is poorly and loves playing powerchair football as this gives her the opportunity to meet up with the other players and has become very good at being a team player. Abigail is playing competitively in a regional league with the potential to go onto national competitions but would require having the correct equipment to keep up with other teams in the national and regional leagues.

Abbie is a fun loving out going person, football has helped her become even more outgoing and loves going to training sessions and tournaments.