Just4Children are raising money to enable Thea to have life changing therapy to enhance her skills and to give her a more independent life.
Thea is 5 years old and lives in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders.
Thea was born Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, a condition where there is a lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain. Thea suffered grade 3 being the worst and went without oxygen for an unknown amount of time during birth.
This resulted in severe brain damage and Thea now has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, drug resistant epilepsy and CVI ( Cerebral visual impairment) where the brain struggles to understand what the eyes can see. We know Thea can see but we don’t know the full extent for sure.
Thea didn’t cry when she was born or make any respiratory effort so was intubated and transferred for cooling therapy which lowers the baby’s body temperature to protect the brain from further damage. We were told it was unlikely Thea would survive and to make funeral arrangements but she proved everyone wrong and has continued to fight the odds ever since.
“Thea the smiling warrior” – the reason we picked this name as Thea is always smiling and laughing and warriors on no matter what. Thea has such a big personality and makes every room light up she’s in. If she’s sad you sure no she’s not happy about something.
Thea can sit, play and interact. We are currently working on crawling and standing to help progress Thea’s mobility further.
This is the reason we have chosen to fundraise forJust4children to help give Thea the best chance we can. she has so much potential but unfortunately we can not provide what she needs as a family. Our dream is to be able to go back to Smile Therapy in Canada where Thea thrived and underwent 4 hours of therapy 5 days a week for 3 weeks with a mixture of physio, occupational therapy and speech therapy alongside some specialist treatments too. All money raised will be used for any therapy and specialist equipment Thea may need.
This has been a hard decision to fundraise again but we know Thea hugely benefits and has missed out so much not being able to go this last year. So please if you can see the strong little warrior Thea is and can help please share our story and if you can spare a few pounds we would be forever grateful!
