I am running the Ealing Half Marathon to raise funds for treatment for Emil Mason.

Emil is 3 years 6 months old at the time of writing and was born very premature at 31 weeks via an emergency c-section. At the age of 1, Emil was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, specifically bilateral spastic legs with some difficulties in his arms too. 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. He remains positive and resilient.

Physiotherapy and medication are very much part of Emil’s daily life and he deals with this very well at his young age but as time passes the pain in his legs and arms will increase as the muscles tighten with growth.

There is a life-changing operation suitable for Emil. The procedure is called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), which 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. His family are therefore responsible for the cost of the surgery and months to years of intensive physiotherapy post-operation. We now need to start to raise around £40,000 to make this happen. The family intend to fund it themselves as much as possible but will need help to raise the rest.

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

Thank you

On bahalf of Helen Mason, Lindz, Sebastien and most importantly Emil.