47 of us across Austin Fraser and Austin Vita will be walking 40km on the 14th May 2021 to raise money for a great cause, Dawson.

Dawson was born at 32 weeks by emergency C-Section from the moment he was born he wanted to surprise us all. Breathing independently, crying straight away and then managing to bottle/breast feed after only 9 days losing his feeding tube.

Dawson was a quiet chilled out baby with 2 boisterous brothers Reuben 9 and Aulay 7. Everything seemed to be perfect and our family was finally complete and ready for some new adventures.

Dawson had some nasty ear infections from about 6 months which the Doctors believed was his reason for poor balance when sitting. After a number of visits to the doctors that it might be something else he was referred to a consultant at the hospital.

Then out world came crashing down................

The consultant advised that Dawson has Dystonic Spastic Diaplegic

Cerebral Palsy. Another appointment at 2 years old confirmed this.

Since then, Dawson has been attending weekly physio alongside daily physio at home. Pre COVID he was attending weekly Hydrotherapy. He works so hard spurred on by his brothers and his best friend at nursery Emmi.

Although not quite the adventure we planned Dawson has now a long road to being totally independent, walking unaided and being able to move more freely. This is no longer a dream as he is a perfect candidate for SDR surgery.

SDR is not a cure for Cerebral Palsy but the operation intends to improve quality of life by reducing the muscle stiffness. The procedure is irreversible so the changes cannot be undone. But, the procedures effectiveness at reducing spasticity and improving quality of life has been demonstrated many times. The four to five hour procedure involves;

An incision made into the upper lumbar spine.

An ultrasound prod used to identify the lower end of the spinal cord.

Under the operating microscope, the membrane covering the spinal cord is

opened and the lower end of the cord, with the sensory roots entering it, is

identified.

Each of the sensory nerve roots is then subdivided into four or five

rootlets.

Each rootlet is stimulated to identify the ones that contribute most to

the spasticity.

These rootlets are then divided. The process is repeated for all the

other nerve roots on both sides, aiming to divide 50 to 70 per cent of the

sensory roots.

At the end of the procedure, the membrane covering the spinal cord is

closed again.

The back muscles are returned to their original position and the skin is

closed with dissolvable stitches.