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Great News! Santiago has been accepted by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for the SDR operation, sadly not funded by the NHS. . This Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy and intensive physiotherapy pre and post-op will give him the best chance of walking unaided.

Santiago is a very happy and loving cheeky boy, who is always smiling and making us laugh with his bubbly personality. The youngest in the
family, brother to Annabella and Harrison.

He is very clever and understands the world around him in two languages, English and Spanish, he makes himself understood with words, sentences, funny faces and loud noises in case we are not paying enough attention.

He is very determined and enthusiastic and will make everything he can in his own possible ways, makes you feel that there is nothing that will stop him.

A little bit of his story.

After a very complicated pregnancy Santiago was born prematurely at 30 weeks. He was rushed to NICU Poole where he stayed for a total of
6 weeks. He had a good and smooth stay whilst in there, one stressful time which only lasted 48 hours but nothing very complex.

Once at home, it was a delightful journey, hard to believe
how tiny he was. Since he was in NICU Poole he received Physiotherapy, and was on these checks up when his body started to show signs there was something not 100% right. At 9 months he was, unable
to sit and had very stiff legs.

As part of the NICU treatment of their babies, he had a follow up when he was 11 months old, it was then when an official diagnose was
made. We were told in January 2016 he had Cerebral Palsy.

At the time we felt the world was crumbling until we put ourselves together and understood he was not ill, just had a condition we all needed to learn and help to make the most of his life a place of happiness and joy.

From that moment, we had a fairly clear mission, to make his life as good as possible, make the most of himself and all of us as a family.

Right now, Santiago is making good progress with his physio, however he is at the stage where an extra input might be needed. A lot of options have been said but waiting for a follow up with the specialist to confirm whether is time for Botox injections or something else. An SDR operation is on the cards but not confirmed just yet. NOW IT HAS!

What we would like is to be able to help him to achieve the maximum potential of his abilities within his disability. His next step hopefully will be standing unaided and luckily to be able to walk by himself.
That independence would be his present for life.

What we would like for Santiago to help maximise the benefit of the SDR operation which alone costs over £22,000

A specialised Trike to strengthen his muscles, important pre-op preperation and interact with his friends

Intensive Blocks of Physiotherapy pre and post-op

Hydro-pool for further physio and exercise for a better outcome

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