Just4Children is raising money to support Barnaby in his early development. The money will help him to access critical therapies, treatments and specialist equipment not available through the NHS.
Barnaby was born in April 2022 in Reading. Unfortunately, despite a healthy and otherwise eventless pregnancy, he was born by emergency C-section following a placenta abruption. He suffered from lack of oxygen affecting his brain, known as HIE (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy). This is very rare affecting only 2 in 1,000 live births. Barnaby’s damage is severe, graded as level 3, the highest level.
Barnaby has been fighting since day 1. In total, he spent his first 4 weeks of life in NICU. Seeing him with wires and tubes all over his tiny body was one of the hardest things we, as parents, had to experience. Being told early on the extent of his brain damage and the impact it will have on his life was another one.
Life for Barnaby didn’t start the usual way. He was tube-fed for the first 3 weeks of his life and we were told he would come home with a tube. We had to get used to the idea that he had lost that primitive reflex babies have to suck and swallow. Barnaby had other plans though, and one evening, he pulled his tube out of his nose and started to bottle feed from that day onwards, never looking back! A miracle!
Barnaby has several areas he struggles with. He has cerebral palsy affecting all 4 limbs, a visual impairment called CVI and complex epilepsy.
Since he was born we have researched, invested and attended hours in therapies. We have seen great improvement from them and feel positive that, as we want to give him as much independence as possible, we need to keep investing in them.
Through therapies, Barnaby has kept on making small progress which we know are the pieces of a larger puzzle. Therapies available through the NHS are very limited and not necessarily the most adapted for Barnaby.
That’s why we appreciate your support in providing him all the help he needs for his development: therapies (DMI, Physio, Occupational Therapy), treatments (Stem Cell therapy, HBOT), and specialist equipment.
We want to give Barnaby every chance of independence.
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