Lauren, Michael & Jess are all 'WALKING THE TEST WAY' for Emil on October 8th

Emil is 4yrs old at the time of writing and was born very premature at 31 weeks via an emergency c-section! His parents felt so blessed and fortunate that Emil was safe after such a traumatic birth. He then spent 5 weeks in Special Care and thankfully they were able to take their 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 their world totally fell apart, they 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. They 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, they now need to start to raise around £40,000 to make this happen. They intend to fund it themselves as much as possible but will need help to raise the rest. They already have a number of planned fundraising challenges up their sleeves!

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

Thank you,

From Lauren, Michael & Jess on behalf of Helen, Lindz, Sebastien and most importantly Emil. xxxx

Find our page at www.facebook.com/EmilGOGOGO