Natalie Preston
Over The O2 with Olly for Brainwave
Fundraising for Brainwave
Story
This year I have challenged myself and Olly Murs to walk over the roof of the O2 arena and raise £30,000 for Brainwave for my 30th birthday
I was born with cerebral palsy and my parents were told that I would not be able to walk, talk or sit up!
I first attended Brainwave when I was 2 years old and my parents say that day was like a breath of fresh air for us all. For the first time ever, everyone looked at me as a whole person and most importantly all the staff believed in me.
Brainwave is a UK national children charity that helps children with disabilities and additional needs to achieve greater independence by aiming to improve mobility, communication skills and learning potential through a range of educational and physical therapies. (www.brainwave.org.uk)
During my childhood Brainwave deigned individual programmes of therapy for me to carry out at home. My mum use to do 6 hours of therapy with me every day and eventually I started to crawl and soon after I took my very first step.
Although Brainwave is there to help me physically they have helped me in different ways too.
Despite my parents being told I was ineducable, I attended mainstream school, mainstream college and then I went onto university and I graduated with a Degree, went on to do a Master’s Degree and now I work at the BBC as a Researcher.
Nine years ago I underwent 12 hours of spinal surgery for rods to be inserted the full length of my back as I had a horrendous curve in my spine that left me very deformed. The doctors told me without this operation that it was unlikely that I would survive to the age of 30. Brainwave have played a huge part in keeping my back in good condition, ensuring the procedure was successful, and have provided me with ongoing support throughout my life.
I feel this is worth celebrating so I have challenged myself to walk over the O2 arena roof and raise £30,000 for the charity to say ‘thank you’ for all their help and support over the years. I have also challenged Olly Murs to go over with me and he has graciously accepted. Olly has been a patron of Brainwave for 8 years now and we are both really excited about this!
You can follow my journey leading up to my event on this page - https://www.facebook.com/OvertheO2forBrainwave
I was born with cerebral palsy and my parents were told that I would not be able to walk, talk or sit up!
I first attended Brainwave when I was 2 years old and my parents say that day was like a breath of fresh air for us all. For the first time ever, everyone looked at me as a whole person and most importantly all the staff believed in me.
Brainwave is a UK national children charity that helps children with disabilities and additional needs to achieve greater independence by aiming to improve mobility, communication skills and learning potential through a range of educational and physical therapies. (www.brainwave.org.uk)
During my childhood Brainwave deigned individual programmes of therapy for me to carry out at home. My mum use to do 6 hours of therapy with me every day and eventually I started to crawl and soon after I took my very first step.
Although Brainwave is there to help me physically they have helped me in different ways too.
Despite my parents being told I was ineducable, I attended mainstream school, mainstream college and then I went onto university and I graduated with a Degree, went on to do a Master’s Degree and now I work at the BBC as a Researcher.
Nine years ago I underwent 12 hours of spinal surgery for rods to be inserted the full length of my back as I had a horrendous curve in my spine that left me very deformed. The doctors told me without this operation that it was unlikely that I would survive to the age of 30. Brainwave have played a huge part in keeping my back in good condition, ensuring the procedure was successful, and have provided me with ongoing support throughout my life.
I feel this is worth celebrating so I have challenged myself to walk over the O2 arena roof and raise £30,000 for the charity to say ‘thank you’ for all their help and support over the years. I have also challenged Olly Murs to go over with me and he has graciously accepted. Olly has been a patron of Brainwave for 8 years now and we are both really excited about this!
You can follow my journey leading up to my event on this page - https://www.facebook.com/OvertheO2forBrainwave