We are fundraising £4,000 to help our 3-year-old son, Rico, attend a 3-week intensive therapy programme at NAPA.

Rico has severe cerebral palsy following a brain injury suffered just before birth. He had an incredibly difficult start to life and we were told that his brain damage was so severe that he would not survive. However, he has come such a long way over the past 3 years, and we want to keep giving him every opportunity we can to develop, learn and reach his potential.

We will always be enormously grateful to the NHS, which saved Rico's life at birth and continues to care for him through a number of specialist teams. However, the amount of regular, hands-on physiotherapy available to Rico through the NHS is limited. Over the past 2.5 years, we have therefore both self-funded and fundraised for additional private physiotherapy and therapies alongside his NHS care, including travelling with Rico to Poland for an intensive therapy programme.

With early childhood being such an important period for development and learning, we want to give Rico as many opportunities as possible to practise movement and build on the abilities he has.

This October, Rico has the opportunity to attend a 3-week intensive programme at NAPA, a specialist neurorehabilitation centre in Essex for children with neurological conditions. He will receive 2 hours of intensive therapy every day, tailored specifically to his needs.

We hope this concentrated block of therapy will help Rico work towards some really important physical skills, including rolling, sitting more independently and developing greater control of his body and movements.

These may sound like small milestones, but for Rico they could make an enormous difference to his independence and his ability to explore, play and interact with the world around him.

Alongside his cerebral palsy, Rico has a visual impairment and difficulties with swallowing and feeding, and he remains at increased risk of seizures. Rico is also pre-verbal and needs support with almost every aspect of everyday life — including moving, sitting, eating, playing and communicating.

But those things don't define Rico.

He is a happy, sociable little boy who loves being outdoors in nature, watching the world around him and, most of all, his big brother, friendly faces and people spending time with him.

We don't know exactly what Rico will be able to achieve as he grows. What we do know is that we want to give him the best possible opportunities to find out.

A single private physiotherapy session can cost £125, and Rico's 3-week intensive programme will cost approximately £4,000 in total. So we are asking for a little help to make this opportunity possible.

We have already been incredibly lucky to have the support of our family, friends and wider community throughout Rico's journey, and we never take that support for granted.

Every donation, however small, will take us closer to getting Rico to NAPA. If you're not able to donate, simply sharing Rico's page would also mean a huge amount to us.

Thank you so much for supporting our little boy and helping us give Rico every opportunity to reach his potential. ❤️

(Donations are made through Tree of Hope, a registered children's charity. Eligible UK taxpayers can add Gift Aid to their donation at no additional cost to themselves.)