Richard Holtby
Richard's Mini spzl box fundraiser
Fundraising for ADDISS
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
The past year has been a complete eye opener to my partner and myself.
After seeing our son struggling at school and seeing him change in front of us with a lack of self confidence, anxiety ect we got things checked out. Now what we thought was just a lad being a lad going through puberty and having the same outlook on school to what I did really, we was suddenly hit with a bombshell that he has been struggling with getting through just a normal day, never mind the pressures of school ect and the fact he has achieved what he has struggling the way he has is just incredible.
He was diagnosed with dyslexia, dyspraxia, visual stress and severe ADHD, now each of these alone make life difficult but all rolled into one is just unbelievable and has shocked us massively.
I work offshore and am away for long trips which has meant my partner has had to deal with pretty much all of this single handedly aswell as everyday life, my daughter, a dog and even doing a part time job aswell as struggling with her own massive health issues which has had her at, and way beyond her wits end most days and made life incredibly hard.
How she does it is a miracle to me and she is the glue that holds this family together and is my absolute world and everyone's rock for not only being herself but for what she does for everybody with no regard for herself and it's incredible tbf and one of the reasons I love her so much.
So now we know what we are dealing with we can start to make things better and easier for the future, but it's a constant battle with schools ect as they are stretched and have little appreciation or time to help most of the time. There are so many levels of ADHD and the last consultant was dumbfounded by his case and said intellectually he is amazing, to deal with what he has and the possibilities of what he can achieve are immense which is an amazing thing to hear.
It also opened my eyes to hear that whilst having one meeting with the consultant he decided to diagnose me aswell and said I 100% had it too which explains my obsessive compulsive behaviour, constant fidgeting, random butting in on conversations and general randomness, and general all-round awesomeness but back when I was at school it was an unknown so I've obviously just adapted to it and in comparison to what my son has is miniscule.
I'm sharing this as I know this is becoming more and more recognised and wanted to raise awareness and show my support to anybody who struggles with any conditions with their kids and the constant battle and hoop jumping with authorities ect that is needed to just get the best for your kids.
My family is my world and we will fight till our last breath to get what we need to support our son, Paul is amazing and is just Paul always has been and always will be but finding this out just highlights how amazing he really is.
I have been working on this mini box project for just over a year now and thought it would be a good opportunity to donate some of the profits to help other family's out there who struggle on a daily basis and hopefully I can make a small difference.
Thankyou for taking the time to read this and I really appreciate the support ❤️