Riley Gosman is a 4year old little boy who has grown up locally in Loanhead with his Mum, Dad, 2 big sisters and big brother.

Riley was born on 13/01/2016. Although his parents were aware there was a chance he could be born with down syndrome it still came as a surprise to the family when he was born prematurely and confirmed to have Down syndrome. He spent a little time in neonatal before going home to his family. Unfortunately, this didn’t last long and he was admitted to the RHSC Edinburgh were he spent pretty much the first year of his life. It was on admission there that they discovered Riley had a Congenital Heart Defect and had to go to Glasgow were he under went 2 major operations before he was even 6months old. Riley will need more operations for his heart but hopefully not until he is a lot bigger and for the rest of his life will need daily medication for this.

Eventually, Riley was well enough to come home to his family in Loanhead where he now attends nursery and is pretty well known for being a cheeky wee monkey. Susan (Rileys Mum) was unable to return to work after having Riley and instead became his full time carer. Daily she has to make sure he gets all the correct medications his feeds and make sure he is getting the stimulation he needs to help him develop.As well as down syndrome, a congenital heart defect and reduced lung function, it was later discovered Riley also has a liver issue called Abernethy malformation type 1. This is not something that can be treated but luckily so far hasn’t caused him many issues but I think you’ll all agree theres a lot for him and his family to deal with.

Due to Susans hard work and determination Riley has came on leaps and bounds but is still a little delayed in his development. This is where we need some help. At the age of 4 Riley is very close to walking now with the aid of a walker provided by his occupational therapists but unfortunately there is only so much they can provide. There is a lot of equiptment that Riley still needs to help support and help him with his development and building up his core muscles. Riley also needs a lot more equipment and specialist clothing

for sleeping and sensory issues as well as ways to help him communicate amongst many other things. All of this equipment as you can imagine is quite expensive and he may need various support systems for a long time to come. I know his family and friends would love to be able to buy this equipment for him but unfortunately this is just not possible in these times.

I then discussed with Susan that we would like to help and see if we could do some fundraising to try and help. He is a local boy who will grow up in our community and as they say “It takes a village.” We’re simply asking for anything you can spare to help him out. As well as a Just Giving page we will have lots of other things going on in the back ground such as football cards, big teddy raffles and various other things. Obviously, it’s hard at the moment with corona virus but in the future i plan on holding a ladies day in Loanhead, when restrictions are a little more eased.

The bank account for the just giving page is Rileys own but due to his age has to be in his Mums name so all money will go directly to him.

I would buy this wee guy the moon on a stick if I was able as i know his parents would too. He is an absolutely amazing wee man who has already fought so hard to be here and still has a lot to face. Let’s give him a wee helping hand if we can.

Everyone should have a Riley in their life. #TeamRileyG