Natalie Maltby
Natalie Maltby's 40th Birthday Fundraiser
Fundraising for Just4Children
Story
In the middle of November I will turn 40. Friends and family have asked me what I’d like for my birthday but the honest truth is nothing. I have plenty of stuff; in fact my house is so full of stuff that occasionally I dream of it burning to the ground so I don’t have to go through the pain of sorting all of the said stuff. But there’s someone I love very much who does need stuff and that’s my nephew Finn.
Finn was born in 2018 and turned 3 a few weeks ago. When he was 16 weeks old he was referred to a neonatal consultant because of his small head and was diagnosed with severe microcephaly, a rare neurological condition where the brain and the head do not grow properly.
From being just a few months old he underwent a barrage of tests, including CT and MRI scans and genetic blood testing to try to discover the cause of the microcephaly and his developmental delays. Unfortunately none of these tests have given Mal & Rosie, Finn’s parents, any answers and he remains undiagnosed to this day.
Finn is visually impaired and has already undergone two surgeries to remove cataracts from his eyes. Only a few weeks ago he underwent another surgery to correct his tongue tie. Because of Finn’s significant global developmental delay he has only just learnt to sit and is non verbal. Through fundraising Team Finn have been able to buy a piece of kit called a Galileo machine that Finn sits/stands on daily and the vibrations help to improve his low muscle tone.
Finn attends Blue Skies Neuro for therapies not currently available on the NHS. One of the therapies that has been shown to help children like Finn is Oxygen therapy. This is where Finn (and usually Mum, Rosie) sit inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for up to an hour breathing in the pure O2.
But an 8 week course of Oxygen therapy sessions costs £1000! They advise doing 8 weeks on, 8 weeks off to get the most benefit so that works out to be £3000-£4000 a year!! Crazy money. So Team Finn are raising money to buy a hyperbaric chamber for Finn to have at home. This would mean that he could use it every day which would hopefully aid his development massively. So instead of birthday presents, I’m asking that you help me celebrate my 40th birthday with a donation. An oxygen chamber costs £21,000 and Team Finn are £7000 away from reaching that target. I don’t expect to raise that kind of money but every little bit helps. If you can only afford to donate £1 then don’t feel embarrassed- all the £1’s add up. But if you can donate a little bit more then that would be amazing.
