Eliza's Yoga-thon for Facial Palsy
P Graham is raising money for Facial Palsy UK
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit Eliza's JustGiving page.
Eliza is going to be taking part in this years' Facial Palsy UK awareness week challenge: Yoga-thon.
Eliza is 7 years old, and was born with a broken 7th Cranial Nerve. The 7th Cranial Nerve controls parts of your face which helps you smile, blink, raise your eyebrows and close your eyes. This is otherwise known as Facial Palsy.
When Eliza was born, we noticed that she squinted with her left eye, but her right eye remained wide open. We noticed that when she sneezed, her right eye didn't close and when she was asleep, her right eye didn't close properly.
After being diagnosed with Facial Palsy, we quickly learned about the Facial Palsy UK charity, which astoundingly, was only founded in 2012!
Facial Palsy UK has been an amazing help to Eliza, and to thousands of other people both children and adults, who suffer with Facial Palsy. Facial Palsy UK do tremendous work to try and raise awareness of Facial Palsy, and every year they hold a Facial Palsy awareness week to try and raise money for the charity, to help those who suffer with Facial Palsy.
Through the Charity, Eliza has been able to meet other people who suffer with Facial Palsy, and she has been able to attend their away days, most notably at Alton Towers, where she saw for the very first time someone else who has the same smile as her.
How does Eliza Suffer?
Looking at Eliza, you probably wouldn't be able to tell that she has Facial Palsy. However, if you spent only 5 minutes with her when she's singing, dancing and making you laugh, you'll notice that when she smiles or laughs, her face is asymmetrical. The right side of her mouth doesn't smile, but the left side does.
If you saw Eliza sneeze, you would learn that it is possible to sneeze with your eye open!
And if you saw her sleeping, you'd realise that she always has one eye watching.
Because she can't close her eyes, it means that she is sensitive to the sunlight, so has to wear glasses which react to sunlight.
Wearing glasses or sunglasses also helps protect her eyes in windy condition, in case debris such as dust or sand blows into her eye. She can't react naturally and blink or close her eye to protect it or even get debris out of her eye. This is something that is so challenging, but she has come to understand in 7 years and has naturally worked out a way to keep her eye protected as much as she possibly can.
Because she is unable to blink, she is unable to keep her eye moist and this has a detrimental impact on her sight. Because of this, she is forced to take 4 eye-drops per day.
With that being said, Eliza is so proud of her Facial Palsy, and tells everyone she meets about it. She has a really good understanding of how it affects her, and is really passionate about promoting the condition to share with others.
Her school have even taken on board her condition and have dedicated themselves to raising awareness during Facial Palsy week, which Eliza is really excited about.
Please help and support Eliza and Facial Palsy UK and make sure to share with your friends and family to raise awareness about Facial Palsy.
If you had a younger relative who wanted a new story book, please visit:
This book is a lovely story about a girl called Rosie who suffers with Facial Palsy. It helps raise awareness of Facial Palsy in children and the wider community, whilst also helping improve self-esteem in children.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.