Oliver's famly need to raise at least £60,000 to pay for Oliver to go to America for his SDR surgery,12 mths of intensive physiotherapy and any equipment he'll need after it. This will be life changing for Oliver.....and his family!
Everyone who donates £10 or more will be Entered into a Free Helicopter Flight and Dine Draw.
In the hope of helping Oliver's family raise this much needed money, Cutting Edge Helicopters are giving away a helicopter flight for two along the stunning North Coast. The City of Derry Airport have kindly donated the fuel for this trip and The Bushmills Inn are giving away a delicious three course lunch for the lucky winner plus one.
This flight will depart from The City of Derry Airport, you will climb over the spectacular views of lough Foyle, Inishowen Head and the Donegal hills. Onwards down Lough Foyle towards Binevenagh mountain you will be able to fly along Benone beach revealing the Mussenden Temple, Casterock, Portstewart and Portrush. The breath taking Dunluce castle is next enroute before flying over the world famous Giants Causeway stones and Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Your flight will then land at The Bushmill's Inn for a delicious lunch and your pilot will wait to fly you back to base. On your return flight to the airport you will take in further breathtaking views of the North Coast. This is the ultimate flight and dine experience.
This is not applicable for gift aid.
Read a bit about Oliver from his mum and dad,
Oliver was born 6 weeks premature on 16 August 2008, weighing 5lb 6oz. He spent two weeks in the neo-natal unit in Antrim Area Hospital before the doctors decided that he was healthy enough and ready to come home. The months flew in and our beautiful little baby grew bigger everyday. He developed his own wee personality and had us wrapped around his wee finger.
As Oliver approached his 1st birthday we knew something wasn't right. He wasn't reaching the same milestones as other babies his age, he couldn't balance well, sit or crawl. We contacted our doctor who arranged for Oliver to start some physiotherapy sessions, but we still couldn't see any improvement, so we had him referred to a peadetrician. After meeting with Oliver she arranged for him to have an MRI to see if they could find out what was wrong.
On 9th April 2010 we got a phone call to go to the hospital.The MRI result showed that our beautiful wee baby had Cerebral Palsy...we were devastated. The Doctor told us that Oliver had a type of cerebral palsy called spastic diplegia, which means that his legs are very tight and he can be in a lot of pain at times.
She told us that this meant that he might not be able not walk, but this was something that couldn't be confirmed until he got older. It was basically a waiting game. All we could do was start more physio and give Oliver as much help as we could to get him stronger and hope and pray for the best!
I was 4mths pregnant with our second son, Max, who came along on 20 September that year. As time passed Oliver did begin to improve, he started crawling properly and began to pull up on furniture around the house. As Max got older it became more obvious to us just how bad Oliver's cerebral palsy was. Max began walking at 10 mths... Oliver just sat and watched... One day he said to us "look, Max is walking" .
We were broken!! We pushed harder with more physio and hydrotherapy. We bought equipment for the house to help us with his daily physio routine.He became more determined once Max started walking and began trying to use a Kaye walker.
When he started nursery he went in everyday in his wheelchair, but tried at least once every day to walk a wee bit in his frame across the classroom. Oliver knew he was differente and would say that the boys and girls could run but he couldn't.
Oliver started primary school in September 2013, and I have never seen him so happy. He just loves it. The kids in his class are brilliant with him, they push him around in his chair, they draw him pictures to take home, they never leave him out!
But once again, Oliver knows he's different. He came home one day and said "mummy the boys and girls can jump in the puddles, but I can't". We knew we had to do something and we looked into a surgery called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy ( SDR).
The surgery in simple terms cuts the dead nerve endings away from the spine and allows the ones that do work to perform properly. We got all of Oliver's medical information together and applied to St.Louis Childrens hospital in America.
Just before Christmas, we got the email from Dr Park to say that he thinks Oliver is an excellent candidate for the surgery. He expects that after surgery Oliver will walk independantely, at least in a protected environment. This was huge news!!! The thought that one day he could do something simple like walk to the toilet, or pick up a toy that he's dropped on the floor.
So now we need your help!!
We need to raise at least £60,000 to pay for Oliver to get to America for his SDR surgery, 12 mths of intensive physiotherapy and any equipment he'll need after it! This will be life changing for Oliver...and for us as a family!
Please help us if you can, no matter how small a donation......It all adds up! Please Help Wee Oliver Walk!!!
Should we exceed the target amount ( or if we do not raise enough funds, or if they cannot be used for any other reason) the funds raised will go to the general funds of tree of hope to assist other sick children.
