Thank you so much for everyone's donations so far. We are so grateful l that we can continue Lemmy's therapies- they are making an incredible difference alongside Salems determination and resilience he is making massive progress and we hope we can continue with all the work to help him live a full independent life. Salem Edgar, or Lemmy as we call him, was born six weeks premature after a placental abruption. It was a very traumatic experience, and both Salem and I are very lucky to be here.

From the moment I first got to hold him, I knew something was different. It took 18 months of fighting for my voice to be heard. I was even told that my concerns about cerebral palsy were most likely caused by PTSD. However, after a lot of fighting, an MRI scan finally confirmed Salem’s diagnosis of bilateral spastic cerebral palsy. This affects his mobility, cognitive development, and vision. He is also on the autistic pathway. He also likely has CVI a vision impairment that affects the way his brain processes what he sees.

Salem is the happiest, funniest little boy, and he’s incredibly brave. He’s had to fight so hard—coming home from the hospital with sepsis at two weeks old, undergoing squint surgery on his eyes, and working so hard to acquire skills that come more easily to others. We could not be prouder of his determination! Salem currently uses a Kaye walker to get around, and our hope is that, with continued intensive therapies, we will be able to get him to take more and more independent steps. He is so desperate to be able to copy his big brother running around.

We have been working very hard to give Salem every opportunity we can while he’s young and his brain is still developing.

Currently, Lemmy has progressed and we can see that all the work we do is helping, after Botox Salem is now able to tolerate wearing splints for short bursts and can take several steps independently which is massive progress.

Salem has taught me to be brave. I feel like I have grown so much because of him, and he has taught me so much in such a short time. We want to do everything we possibly can to help ensure he continues to thrive, and having people’s support to do this means the absolute world to us!!

So far donations have been used for:

- To purchase a specialist buggy for Salem

- To pay for a disabled parking bay outside our home

- Weekly DMI

- Conductive education intensives and sessions

- Intense physio sessions at Footsteps

Things that donations will continue to go towards

- Private physiotherapy

- Equipment - we are currently hoping to get him a trike

- Child psychologist- helping with his behaviour and emotions

We really appreciate any donation or sharing of our page.

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, they will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives. If, in those circumstances, we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child, any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.