Kai is 9 years and from Bristol. He was born premature and at 14 months he was diagnosed with spastic diplegia, a chronic neuromuscular condition of leg spasticity (type of CP).

Kai is a very strong and independent boy. He walks and runs. However, his stiff legs muscles put a lot of limitations on his normal activities. He gets tired after longer walks. He also has a problem with his balance and feels very unstable while walking downstairs or down the hill. He does a lot of sport at school or after school but is slower than his peers and feels sometimes excluded from friends.

After months of assessments, Kai had the opportunity to have Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery (SDR), where nerve roots are cut in the spine to reduce legs spasticity.

The surgery, even though very serious, is the easy part. The aftercare is the most vital and essential part of the SDR process. This include 2 years of post surgery physiotherapy, which is very intense for the following 18 months and exercising at home every day.

Although the SDR surgery is funded by the NHS we still need to raise as much as we can to pay for Kais post surgery physiotherapy. NHS provides aftercare physiotherapy, but this is just not enough to make the operation worthwhile. NHS funds basic physiotherapy for first 4 months after the surgery. Then they offer 1 session per 2 and 3 and finally 4 weeks, which is amazing, but not near enough! Kai needs a professional physiotherapy 2-3 times a week for a minimum of 2 years on top of his daily exercises at home to strengthen his muscles and keep SDR surgery worthwhile.

The longer we can keep physiotherapy going, the more Kai will benefit. All fundraised money will be used to cover all post surgery physiotherapy costs as well as any other operational related costs that may arise from the SDR operation or any future operations.

We are so very grateful for all donations and support.

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