Help Thomas to Dance

Thomas and Dylan arrived on the 4th of January 2013, very early—nearly 10 weeks early. Weighing less than 3lbs, they had to fight hard to survive, but they did, and thankfully soon began to put on weight and grow strong.

After 10 weeks in SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit), they came home, and finally, we were free to hold and nurse our babies—after 10 weeks in hospital, we were free to take care of our boys. They thrived.

We all fell in love.

An MRI scan at 2 years of age showed that Thomas has some neurological damage. A diagnosis of cerebral palsy was confirmed. This explained why he had been slow to reach many of the expected physical milestones.

Thomas is now 3 years old. He continues to make good progress, but he is still unable to stand or walk independently. Thomas is able to walk with his walker and enjoy chasing his brother around, but he wants to do more—he wants to catch him!

He needs SDR (Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy) surgery to increase the chances of being able to live and walk independently.

The cost of having this life-changing treatment in the UK is approximately £35,000.

To give Thomas the best chance of benefiting from the surgery and subsequent physiotherapy, it's important that he goes into the operation as strong as possible.

He needs intensive physiotherapy and numerous specialist pieces of equipment to build up this strength. The cost of pre-op equipment is likely to be £10,000.

As part of this preparation, we are working with Brainwave, a centre in Somerset that helps families like us by creating individual home-based therapy and exercise programmes to help children with disabilities achieve their potential. Critically, they also have a post-SDR programme, so it is great that they are working with Thomas now too.

Physiotherapy and equipment post-op will be a further £10,000 each year for 3 years after the operation. Therefore, we want to try and raise £75,000 in order to give him the best possible outcome.

If you would like to make a donation, organise an event, be sponsored, or donate a prize to be auctioned, please do. Your help will be life-changing and would be hugely appreciated.

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.

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects. If in those circumstances we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives, then any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.