Kaiden's Special Education Need

Thank you for the opportunity to share.  We write this letter on behalf of our son Kaiden.  Daniel and I are the happy parents of 3 children, Abigail, Kaiden and Jaxon, with one on the way.  We have a very unique family.  Kaiden was born on June 14, 2010.  Much to our surprise, he was born with a rare disease called Norries.  This is a genetic gene change that we were unaware of, that comes through the maternal line.  As you can imagine, I was shocked to learn that I am a carrier.  As a result, Kaiden is completely blind.  In the beginning we spent much time and money seeing specialists in the BC and also one in L.A.  It quickly became evident that there is NO cure for Kaiden. Living with this disease has many daily challenges, but taking life one day at a time has helped us through.  Children with Norries can also have other complications.  We are not fully sure of the extent for Kaiden at this time.  We hope that he will not suffer other issues known to come along with such a diagnosis, however these are still yet undetermined. About one third of individuals with Norrie Disease develop progressive hearing loss, and more than half experience developmental delays in motor skills.

This past year has been exciting for Kaiden as he has started Kindergarten at the Powell River Christian School.  We have seen him overcome so many fears that go along with being blind, as well as watching our son do some of the things he loves so much.  For example, Kaiden excels in music and is a very good drummer!  We are so grateful for the team that works with Kaiden on a daily basis.  We could not imagine the challenges Kaiden would have to face, without such support.  Tasks as simple as becoming oriented with the school, while quickly done by a seeing child, are tremendously stressful for a child without sight.  We chose Powell River Christian School because it is a smaller school, very loving and family oriented.  This is the kind of environment we feel Kaiden will excel best in.

Since having our son in school, we and the school have had to face the demands of mandatory requirements from the BC Government to meet his needs.  The financial burden is simply incomprehensible.

Daniel and I have been made aware of some amazing contributions that different organizations have done in communities such as ours, and the help they have provided to families dealing with unique and trying circumstances.  We ask you to please consider helping our family through this "gofundme" page.  We definitely require help, and don’t know where to turn.  Without financial aid, we feel very insecure about the success of Kaiden’s future educational needs and the quality of his learning environment.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to consider our son Kaiden and his daily needs.  Any support would be greatly appreciated.