Our son Amell is an amazing 6 year old boy living with right sided hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy, caused by 2 separate injuries in his brain. With bravery, resilience, and a smile on his face, Amell embraces the challenges of his CP. He is unable to stand or walk unaided, and has limited use of his right limbs.

Unfortunately, the NHS is unable to do anything more for Amell until his early teens. This is because the only next step they can offer to help him walk is an extensive bone, muscle and tendon operation which will be ineffective until he is much older. Until this time Amell must persevere with his physio and occupational therapy, and wear his leg and hand splints. However this surgery can only fix the physical damage done to the body as a result of his CP, it does not counteract all of the incorrect signals Amell’s brain is sending to the body – which is the actual cause of the damage.

As Amell’s parents we refuse to wait around knowing that a lack of any intervention until his teenage years could make his muscles tighter, further reducing his chance of ever walking independently. As such we have found an intensive neurorehabilitation centre in Italy called Cosmosuit which offers rehabilitation for children with brain injuries such as Amell’s.

At Cosmosuit the patient receives up to 5 hours of rehabilitation per day, 6 days a week for 2-4 weeks, under a multidisciplinary team of 5-9 specialists, headed by a neurologist. Several physiotherapists carry out physical rehabilitation of one child. The therapy is aimed at training the brain to learn the correct signals to send to the body with the goal of developing gross and fine motor skills and coordination. Treatment comprises of complex therapies such as electrostimulation, hydrotherapy, medical gymnastics, neuromotor development, and medical massage. Please visit Cosmosuit for further information.

We believe this therapy will make an immeasurable difference to Amell’s quality of life until he is of age to undergo his surgery. Cosmosuit will actively work to "reorganize" the existing patterns of movement and launch the right activities in Amell’s brain. They will then work on formation of his posture and movement patterns in his brain. We believe this will result in Amell being able to stand independently for a long period of time, which will lead to the taking of unaided steps.

We kindly ask if you would help us in raising £6000 to cover the cost of this therapy for 2 weeks, and support us in helping Amell to have the best chance at walking unaided.