My Name is Donna Bridson and I live in Upton in Chester with my husband Stephen and our 3 children Liam, Owen and Aiden. On 26th October 2012 our beautiful son was born weighing a healthy 6lb 14oz but my world was soon to be turned upside down as our son Aiden had Down's Syndrome. Aiden spent his first 13 days in Neo-Natal on oxygen and feeding tubes but he started to gain weight and came home for the first time when he was 13 days old. The first year flew by, I went back to work part time in my local school whilst my Mum looked after Aiden and I felt like I had some "normality" back in my life. When Aiden was 18 months old he refused to eat his normal food, he wouldn't make eye contact with us and he began to seek sensory stimulation. I knew at this point that Aiden had Autism as I worked in an Autistic provision within a mainstream school. It took us until Aiden was 4 years and 1 month old to get a diagnosis of ASD as having a dual diagnosis of ASD & Down's Syndrome is rare. Due to all of Aiden's needs and numerous regular appointments and the fact that I am awake most of the night with Aiden I could not carry on working as I felt that I could no longer give my all to the school and the children that I supported within it so I made the sad decision to leave work when Aiden was 2 years old after 9.5 years within the school. I currently go into local schools, nurseries and libraries delivering makaton sing and sign sessions for free to ensure all children have the opportunity to communicate even if they cant talk as without Makaton sign language my son wouldn't be where he is now.

Aiden's needs are classed as complex and I have made a list below for you to help you understand the complexity of it all

* Down's Syndrome

* Autism

* Mild/Moderate hearing loss and wears a BAHA (Bone anchored hearing aid)

* Vision Problems - he wears bifocal glass

* Sub-mucus cleft pallet - which affects speech and eating

* Low muscle tone - affects his joints, speech

* Hyper-mobility - affects his limbs

* Sleep aponea - restricted breathing when he is asleep

* Atlanto-axial Instability

Aiden communicates using Makaton sign language as he has very little speech, this is due to a number of factors, ASD, Down's Syndrome, sub-mucus cleft and low muscle tone.

Aiden now attends a local mainstream school where he has an amazing 1-1 and he is really doing well, his class were beginning to take part in gymnastics in school and the coach asked for my permission for Aiden to take part because of the risk of AAI (Atlanto- axial Instability). I took Aiden to the GP and he was referred for a neck x-ray. We received a phone call from our GP on 14.02.19 to give us the bad news; Aiden unfortunately has Atlanto-axial Instabilty. This is again really rare and research shows that only approximately 10% of people with Down's Syndrome have AAI. The news hit us really bad as we were not expecting this. This has huge implications for Aiden and we have been referred to an Orthopedic surgeon to discuss the next steps. What this currently means for our football loving son is.

No football or contact sport

No trampolining

No bouncy Castles

No Gymnastics

No horse riding (which he has done since he was 18 months old)

We have been told that we need to purchase a high impact car seat to protect Aiden's neck whilst we are in the car due to his AAI. These car seats are very expensive and we do not have the funds to purchase it as my husband is the only earner now.

I am looking for help to purchase this much needed car seat for our son and I am reaching out for help, if you feel you can help us in any way by donating or sharing then we would be eternally Grateful.

We are also holding a Easter Funday on Saturday 20th April , from 2-4 at the Conservative club in Ellesmete Port . More information will be available on Facebook soon

With Kindest Regards

Donna Bridson