Just4Children need your support to help fund intensive speech and language therapyfor Luca who has bulbar palsy affecting his eating and drinking.
Luca is aged one from Sidcup. He was born spontaneously at 24 weeks and 4 days. This brave, determined and fierce little lion came out strong…heart beating and breathing. Unfortunately, the hospital was not equipped to deal with such a small baby at only 780grams. He was intubated but it wasn’t an easy process and as a result Luca has bulbar palsy, which affects his eating and speaking.
He spent 8 months in hospital with lots of foreign tubes in his mouth, often meaning his mouth was open and his tongue clamped down. These are negative oral experiences for Luca so he hates anything close to his mouth. Combined with his bulbar palsy he struggled to eat orally and needs intensive speech and language therapy to encourage feeding and to build his early communication skills. It has taken a whole year for us to get him to finally tolerate food near his face.
He also has a tracheotomy as he has a damaged airway from him constantly pulling out his breathing tube. He is due to have surgery when he is 4 to correct the damage and one day will be tracheotomy free. He has shown incredible resilience from day one and we know he can do amazing things if we equip him with the right tools.
His early birth and bulbar palsy has meant he has missed many of his developmental milestones and Luca needs a more intensive therapy to help him flourish.
He will need twice weekly intensive physiotherapy and occupational therapy to build his muscle strength to help him sit, stand and one day walk.
Our aim is to raise enough funds to continue with all of Luca’s therapy, as well as intensive therapies such as CME MEDEK, Bobath and MASE.
As his parents we want to enable Luca to live his best life. He has so much determination and drive, and has undergone so much in his short life. As his parents we want to help him grow and flourish as much as we can.
It’s not easy asking for donations, but this isn’t about us. This is about Luca. Your help would be so appreciated.
Best wishes
Luca’s parents
