Emil is 3yrs 6 months old at the time of writing and was born very premature at 31 weeks via an emergency c-section! We felt so blessed and fortunate that Emil was safe after such a traumatic birth. He then spent 5 weeks in Special Care and thankfully we were able to bring our little boy home.

At the age of 1, Emil was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, specifically bilateral spastic legs with some difficulties in his arms too. At that time our world totally fell apart and I remember that day very well. Emil’s type of Cerebral Palsy results in very high muscle tone, which means his leg muscles are incredibly stiff, he quite often struggles to control the movements himself and he is unable to stand or walk unaided. He requires a Kaye walker at present to get around. Day to day activities are completely compromised but Emil is an amazing, smiley little boy who is extremely determined and wants to be involved in everything with family, friends and the dog. We are continually amazed at his positivity and resilience!

There is a life-changing operation suitable for Emil around the age of 5, called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). This involves cutting the sensory nerves in the lower spine, in turn reducing the abnormal messages Emil currently receives from his sensory nerves. SDR is not currently funded by the NHS but is offered as a “self-funding” programme and the family are therefore responsible for the cost of the surgery and months to years of intensive physiotherapy post-operation. So, we now need to start to raise around £40,000 to make this happen. We intend to fund it ourselves as much as possible but we will need help to raise the rest. We already have a number of planned fundraising challenges up our sleeves!

We would be so grateful for any support to help Emil gain the quality of life he so rightly deserves.

Thank you,

Helen, Lindz, Sebastien and most importantly Emil. xxxx

Find our page at www.facebook.com/EmilGOGOGO