I'm doing a Cycle Ride from John O'Groats to Land's End to help my cousin's daughter, Izzy, raise £80.000,00 for a life changing spinal operation and aftercare that will help Izzy walk.
And here is Izzy's story:
We are a family from St Columb Major, Cornwall. This new year we will be starting a series of fundraising events to raise £80.000 so our daughter Izzy Pearce can have SDR, a life changing spinal operation which will hopefully help Izzy walk.
Izzy is a bright, happy, cheeky 5 year old girl, who loves to sing and dance. She's a pupil at St. Columb Major Academy.
Izzy is one of identical twins and she has Cerebral Palsy Spastic Diplegia. This means she has increased muscle tone and her legs are constantly stiff (spasticity), she suffers from pain and also has difficulty with leg movements, coordination and balance.
Because of her condition, Izzy cannot walk or even stand unaided.
Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) is a life changing complex spinal operation, the only surgical procedure that permanently reduces or eliminates stiffness and spasticity in the legs.
Spasticity causes a lot of pain, and over time, shortening of muscles and tendons, joints contractures and bone deformities.
This is not a cure for Cerebral Palsy but without the spasticity, Izzy will be given the chance to improve her range of movements and, with intensive physiotherapy, strengthen her muscles, hopefully giving her the opportunity to walk.
The results from SDR are simply incredible and children that were told they would never walk, are not only walking, they are running, jumping and dancing too.
This operation could potentially mean the difference between Izzy walking independently and her being in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
SDR is not currently available under the NHS.
The money raised will pay for surgery, travel and accommodation costs, prolonged intensive post op physiotherapy rehab and equipment to build a mini home gym.
All we want is to give Izzy the best chance to be able to run around with her twin sister (her best friend!) and be able do all the things we all take for granted.
We will be fundraising through Just4Children, a registered charity (no.1164473).
Just4Children will securely hold all of Izzy's funds and pay for all invoices directly.
We would be eternally grateful for any support you would be able to offer in helping Izzy reach her fundraising target.
Every bit of help, whether large or small, will take us one step closer to getting the surgery our daughter so desperately needs.
If you would like any further information or would like to join us with the fundraising, please don't hesitate to contact me via my email ursulapearce@hotmail.com
You can follow Izzy's progress and keep up to date with our fundraising events on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/helpizzywalk and www.justgiing.com/helpizzywalk
Thank you for taking the time to read our story. :)
Ursula, Mike, Izzy and Gabby
