Mighty Mason
Donation protected
PLEASE NOTE ALL DONATIONS ARE IN POUNDS (£)
Dear Family and Friends,
We would like to kindly ask you to share our son’s story and help us raise funds for his upcoming surgeries and further treatments he may need.
Our son Mason, now 2.5 years old, suffers from Cerebral Palsy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy#Signs_and_symptoms).
At this stage of his life he is still not able to sit, stand or walk unsupported, with both his legs and left arm being affected. He also has a severe squint in his right eye.
Little bit of Mason’s journey so far: Mason was born prematurely at 31 weeks and weighed a mere 1.65 kg (3.6 lb). He had to be ventilated from birth, however, after 24 hours, being the little fighter he is, he was able to take his first breath on his own and never looked back. In our family, due to his tiny size and huge will to live, he became known as Mighty Mason.
The first 3 weeks of his life were spent in the incubator but this still didn’t stop him from being the little cheeky monkey he is. To ours and the hospital staff’s amusement, he removed his feeding tube every day, managed to turn himself head down on his raised incubator bed and was constantly trying to push his tiny feet out of the incubator doors. We guess, he wanted to escape from hospital as much as we wanted him home. After 3 weeks going from strength to strength and weighing 1.8 kg (4 lb), his micro nappies, clothes and blanket were packed and we finally brought our baby home.
Mason was slowly growing and getting stronger and his dramatic start to life was slowly fading with each passing day, and at 3 months old he was discharged from Special Care aftercare. We were over the moon.
But as the months passed we were noticing that all was not well. At 7 months old Mason’s movements were very limited, he was not able to sit even with support and was very floppy. His squint also became more obvious. We consulted our GP a few times but we were assured time and time again that this is all due to his prematurity and he will catch up eventually. This was very far from the truth.
A few weeks after his 1st birthday we were seen by the Neurodevelopmental Specialist who very early on in her examination established Mason suffers from Cerebral Palsy. He had a brain haemorrhage at birth but we had been told at that time that this was not serious, so this revelation was a huge blow to us. The list of possible complications was endless…mental issues, learning difficulties, motor problems, epilepsy, problems with vision, hearing…..we just remember feeling numb.
A MRI scan a few weeks later confirmed quite extensive brain damage.
But the beauty of having a child is that no matter what life throws at you, you have to get up in the morning and look after this little person….and so we did!
We realised we needed more support from family and friends in order to go through this, so after 13 years of living in the UK, we decided to move to South Africa, my husband’s home country. Four months before the big move, we split up as a family. Blake stayed in the UK to work and save while Mason and I spent some time in my home country, Slovakia. With the support of my family I was able to take Mason for 2 months to a specialized rehabilitation centre, where he underwent daily extensive physiotherapy and other procedures. It was very hard to challenge his body in this manner, which he clearly didn’t enjoy, however, the results were amazing. He was able to pull his body along the floor, lift his head better and his core stability was increasing.
On arrival in South Africa, we continued physiotherapy and a few months later Mason started to attend a daily Stimulation Centre for disabled children, Aurora. Aurora has been really amazing and we are forever grateful for everything they do for our son, especially loving him the way he is and getting the best out of him and for teaching us not to see his disability but recognize his different ability.
Since his birth he has come a long way and our hopes and dreams are big for our Mighty Mason…we believe he will walk one day, maybe not perfectly, but Mase we will always be ready to catch you, no matter what! We have learnt to focus on what we have and can do, not what we haven’t or can’t. The past 2.5 years haven’t been the easiest but Mason’s sunny personality carries us through the hard days and every little progress he achieves makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Mason’s next surgeries are scheduled for the end of next month (November 2014). He will be having an eye operation to correct the squint as well as another set of Botox injections to loosen the tightness of his limbs to help him to move more freely. As we have recently moved to SA from the UK, our current medical aid will not be covering his condition until next year September. However, we cannot postpone these surgeries as they will really benefit him at this stage and support his progress.
Which brings us to this point, with us turning to you – if you can help us in any way to contribute towards his ongoing treatments, we would be really grateful. We would like to use your contributions towards his upcoming surgeries and any further treatments he may require and to cover medical expenses not currently covered by our medical aid.
We will let you know of his progress so you can be part of his journey with us.
Thank you for your help
Sasha, Blake and Mason xxx
PLEASE NOTE ALL DONATIONS ARE IN POUNDS (£)
Dear Family and Friends,
We would like to kindly ask you to share our son’s story and help us raise funds for his upcoming surgeries and further treatments he may need.
Our son Mason, now 2.5 years old, suffers from Cerebral Palsy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy#Signs_and_symptoms).
At this stage of his life he is still not able to sit, stand or walk unsupported, with both his legs and left arm being affected. He also has a severe squint in his right eye.
Little bit of Mason’s journey so far: Mason was born prematurely at 31 weeks and weighed a mere 1.65 kg (3.6 lb). He had to be ventilated from birth, however, after 24 hours, being the little fighter he is, he was able to take his first breath on his own and never looked back. In our family, due to his tiny size and huge will to live, he became known as Mighty Mason.
The first 3 weeks of his life were spent in the incubator but this still didn’t stop him from being the little cheeky monkey he is. To ours and the hospital staff’s amusement, he removed his feeding tube every day, managed to turn himself head down on his raised incubator bed and was constantly trying to push his tiny feet out of the incubator doors. We guess, he wanted to escape from hospital as much as we wanted him home. After 3 weeks going from strength to strength and weighing 1.8 kg (4 lb), his micro nappies, clothes and blanket were packed and we finally brought our baby home.
Mason was slowly growing and getting stronger and his dramatic start to life was slowly fading with each passing day, and at 3 months old he was discharged from Special Care aftercare. We were over the moon.
But as the months passed we were noticing that all was not well. At 7 months old Mason’s movements were very limited, he was not able to sit even with support and was very floppy. His squint also became more obvious. We consulted our GP a few times but we were assured time and time again that this is all due to his prematurity and he will catch up eventually. This was very far from the truth.
A few weeks after his 1st birthday we were seen by the Neurodevelopmental Specialist who very early on in her examination established Mason suffers from Cerebral Palsy. He had a brain haemorrhage at birth but we had been told at that time that this was not serious, so this revelation was a huge blow to us. The list of possible complications was endless…mental issues, learning difficulties, motor problems, epilepsy, problems with vision, hearing…..we just remember feeling numb.
A MRI scan a few weeks later confirmed quite extensive brain damage.
But the beauty of having a child is that no matter what life throws at you, you have to get up in the morning and look after this little person….and so we did!
We realised we needed more support from family and friends in order to go through this, so after 13 years of living in the UK, we decided to move to South Africa, my husband’s home country. Four months before the big move, we split up as a family. Blake stayed in the UK to work and save while Mason and I spent some time in my home country, Slovakia. With the support of my family I was able to take Mason for 2 months to a specialized rehabilitation centre, where he underwent daily extensive physiotherapy and other procedures. It was very hard to challenge his body in this manner, which he clearly didn’t enjoy, however, the results were amazing. He was able to pull his body along the floor, lift his head better and his core stability was increasing.
On arrival in South Africa, we continued physiotherapy and a few months later Mason started to attend a daily Stimulation Centre for disabled children, Aurora. Aurora has been really amazing and we are forever grateful for everything they do for our son, especially loving him the way he is and getting the best out of him and for teaching us not to see his disability but recognize his different ability.
Since his birth he has come a long way and our hopes and dreams are big for our Mighty Mason…we believe he will walk one day, maybe not perfectly, but Mase we will always be ready to catch you, no matter what! We have learnt to focus on what we have and can do, not what we haven’t or can’t. The past 2.5 years haven’t been the easiest but Mason’s sunny personality carries us through the hard days and every little progress he achieves makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Mason’s next surgeries are scheduled for the end of next month (November 2014). He will be having an eye operation to correct the squint as well as another set of Botox injections to loosen the tightness of his limbs to help him to move more freely. As we have recently moved to SA from the UK, our current medical aid will not be covering his condition until next year September. However, we cannot postpone these surgeries as they will really benefit him at this stage and support his progress.
Which brings us to this point, with us turning to you – if you can help us in any way to contribute towards his ongoing treatments, we would be really grateful. We would like to use your contributions towards his upcoming surgeries and any further treatments he may require and to cover medical expenses not currently covered by our medical aid.
We will let you know of his progress so you can be part of his journey with us.
Thank you for your help
Sasha, Blake and Mason xxx
PLEASE NOTE ALL DONATIONS ARE IN POUNDS (£)
Organizer
Sasa Buckingham
Organizer
