Help Georgie
Donation protected
Help Georgie
Our beautiful daughter, Georgie, is like all toddlers – fun, cheeky, naughty, happy, mischievous and extremely loved! There is only one difference between her and all her friends, Georgie cannot stand, balance or walk unaided. Georgie gets herself around indoors by crawling or using her tripod sticks or walking frame, and recently tried a few brave independent steps on her tip toes, however, she constantly falls over resulting in some nasty injuries. We want to change that and help Georgie take her own safe and controlled, unaided steps, which will enable her to play with her big sister and friends independently!
I had a complicated pregnancy with Georgie that concluded with my waters breaking 14 weeks early. My husband and I underwent an emergency blue light transfer to Liverpool Women’s Hospital from our home in Worcester, where Georgie was then later born. 11 weeks premature and weighing just 3.2lbs, Georgie entered the world in a dramatic fashion that set the tone for the next 3 years. She had to be resuscitated after a pain staking 11 minutes and spent her first 24 hours on a ventilator and 2 ½ months in an incubator in both Liverpool and Worcester specialist neonatal wards. Bringing her home felt more special than we could ever have imagined.
At around 10 months old Georgie’s lower limbs seemed much stiffer than other babies and at a regular visit to her paediatrician they decided to refer her for physiotherapy. We will never forget that day… after probing the physio for answers, after a longer than expected session, we were told Georgie seems to be “developing Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy” (basically over tight muscles in her legs and hips). Georgie was introduced to the world of seeing therapists weekly with lots of prodding and poking and tests. At 12 months old our fear of the unknown was confirmed.
Georgie had her first general anaesthetic in order to have an MRI scan, which confirmed the brain damage and the diagnosis we were so desperately hoping was wrong.
Even Celebrities love Georgie – a meeting with Peter Andre!
We obviously want Georgie to have a bright, successful and happy future, with the smallest amount of intervention and procedures possible. We know from extensive research and speaking first hand with the best of the best, that for her, she will massively benefit from an operation that was pioneered in America and is now being carried out on trial in the UK and is very successful.
The operation Georgie will need is a procedure called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). More information on this operation can be found at this link.
http://www.stlouischildrens.org/our-services/center-cerebral-palsy-spasticity/about-selective-dorsal-rhizotomy-sdr
At this moment in time, despite our tough campaigning for an assessment for consideration into the NHS trial and working relentlessly both physically and mentally in trying to meet the strict criteria required; the NHS will not consider funding the operation for Georgie at this time. This is due to limited funding and is also subject to further local funding acceptance for aftercare, which also takes time to gain. Georgie is unfortunately not one of the children that will make it into the trial at the moment, and is now at risk of further orthopaedic surgery in the future due to possible deformities occurring in her hips, knees, ankles and feet whilst spasticity is taking hold of her body. You can fight spasticity through physio temporarily but you cannot eliminate it without SDR surgery which is needed ASAP.
Georgie has been assessed by Dr Park from St Louis, America and we have been told that she would be an excellent candidate for the operation, and he can foresee Georgie being able to take independent steps to a brighter pain-free future..
Georgie is a very strong willed, determined little girl and is not a fan of her twice daily physiotherapy and multiple stretching sessions that we perform at home, and still 2 years on she struggles with her therapy sessions with the professionals! She was recently considered for botox injections to release the tight muscles, but this is only a temporary solution to her spasticity, so we campaigned for a more permanent solution of specialist surgery.
We have invested in lots of different ways of Georgie having her therapy without realising it! Georgie has hippo therapy (physiotherapy on a horse) weekly – she loves her horses Harry and Beauty. She swims twice weekly in a hydrotherapy pool which has given her so much more confidence. It is here when she is her happiest – in the pool with her peers doing exactly the same as them!. Georgie has appeared in a documentary ‘secret lives of babies’ on ITV 3 promoting the invaluable benefits of hydrotherapy and demonstrating how effective the water is in relaxing her tight muscles – a true superstar!
Georgie also has a disability trike that she loves to ride around the garden and the park and has recently learnt how to pedal it well; she can now race with her 5 year old sister Ella and do what sisters should be doing at their age.
The operation is a gruelling 5-6 hours, and more importantly, Georgie will require potentially 5 sessions of private physiotherapy a week for up to 2 years. We have a huge amount of work to do in continuing to strengthen her physically and mentally so that she is strong enough for this procedure and aftercare.
To fund this operation and the physiotherapy pre and post operation, equipment and intensive fitness sessions we need to raise approximately £60,000.
If by any luck the NHS decide that Georgie is a candidate for the trial in the future, we would still need to raise funds for the vital aftercare and equipment required in order for the operation to be a success. Therefore our fundraising campaign is about to go full force and we as parents of Georgie urge/beg and plead with you to consider anything you can do to help get Georgie this life changing surgery, aftercare and equipment she so desperately needs.
www.helpgeorgie.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HelpGeorgie/
https://twitter.com/HelpGeorgie
https://helpgeorgieblog.wordpress.com/
Our beautiful daughter, Georgie, is like all toddlers – fun, cheeky, naughty, happy, mischievous and extremely loved! There is only one difference between her and all her friends, Georgie cannot stand, balance or walk unaided. Georgie gets herself around indoors by crawling or using her tripod sticks or walking frame, and recently tried a few brave independent steps on her tip toes, however, she constantly falls over resulting in some nasty injuries. We want to change that and help Georgie take her own safe and controlled, unaided steps, which will enable her to play with her big sister and friends independently!
I had a complicated pregnancy with Georgie that concluded with my waters breaking 14 weeks early. My husband and I underwent an emergency blue light transfer to Liverpool Women’s Hospital from our home in Worcester, where Georgie was then later born. 11 weeks premature and weighing just 3.2lbs, Georgie entered the world in a dramatic fashion that set the tone for the next 3 years. She had to be resuscitated after a pain staking 11 minutes and spent her first 24 hours on a ventilator and 2 ½ months in an incubator in both Liverpool and Worcester specialist neonatal wards. Bringing her home felt more special than we could ever have imagined.
At around 10 months old Georgie’s lower limbs seemed much stiffer than other babies and at a regular visit to her paediatrician they decided to refer her for physiotherapy. We will never forget that day… after probing the physio for answers, after a longer than expected session, we were told Georgie seems to be “developing Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy” (basically over tight muscles in her legs and hips). Georgie was introduced to the world of seeing therapists weekly with lots of prodding and poking and tests. At 12 months old our fear of the unknown was confirmed.
Georgie had her first general anaesthetic in order to have an MRI scan, which confirmed the brain damage and the diagnosis we were so desperately hoping was wrong.
Even Celebrities love Georgie – a meeting with Peter Andre!
We obviously want Georgie to have a bright, successful and happy future, with the smallest amount of intervention and procedures possible. We know from extensive research and speaking first hand with the best of the best, that for her, she will massively benefit from an operation that was pioneered in America and is now being carried out on trial in the UK and is very successful.
The operation Georgie will need is a procedure called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). More information on this operation can be found at this link.
http://www.stlouischildrens.org/our-services/center-cerebral-palsy-spasticity/about-selective-dorsal-rhizotomy-sdr
At this moment in time, despite our tough campaigning for an assessment for consideration into the NHS trial and working relentlessly both physically and mentally in trying to meet the strict criteria required; the NHS will not consider funding the operation for Georgie at this time. This is due to limited funding and is also subject to further local funding acceptance for aftercare, which also takes time to gain. Georgie is unfortunately not one of the children that will make it into the trial at the moment, and is now at risk of further orthopaedic surgery in the future due to possible deformities occurring in her hips, knees, ankles and feet whilst spasticity is taking hold of her body. You can fight spasticity through physio temporarily but you cannot eliminate it without SDR surgery which is needed ASAP.
Georgie has been assessed by Dr Park from St Louis, America and we have been told that she would be an excellent candidate for the operation, and he can foresee Georgie being able to take independent steps to a brighter pain-free future..
Georgie is a very strong willed, determined little girl and is not a fan of her twice daily physiotherapy and multiple stretching sessions that we perform at home, and still 2 years on she struggles with her therapy sessions with the professionals! She was recently considered for botox injections to release the tight muscles, but this is only a temporary solution to her spasticity, so we campaigned for a more permanent solution of specialist surgery.
We have invested in lots of different ways of Georgie having her therapy without realising it! Georgie has hippo therapy (physiotherapy on a horse) weekly – she loves her horses Harry and Beauty. She swims twice weekly in a hydrotherapy pool which has given her so much more confidence. It is here when she is her happiest – in the pool with her peers doing exactly the same as them!. Georgie has appeared in a documentary ‘secret lives of babies’ on ITV 3 promoting the invaluable benefits of hydrotherapy and demonstrating how effective the water is in relaxing her tight muscles – a true superstar!
Georgie also has a disability trike that she loves to ride around the garden and the park and has recently learnt how to pedal it well; she can now race with her 5 year old sister Ella and do what sisters should be doing at their age.
The operation is a gruelling 5-6 hours, and more importantly, Georgie will require potentially 5 sessions of private physiotherapy a week for up to 2 years. We have a huge amount of work to do in continuing to strengthen her physically and mentally so that she is strong enough for this procedure and aftercare.
To fund this operation and the physiotherapy pre and post operation, equipment and intensive fitness sessions we need to raise approximately £60,000.
If by any luck the NHS decide that Georgie is a candidate for the trial in the future, we would still need to raise funds for the vital aftercare and equipment required in order for the operation to be a success. Therefore our fundraising campaign is about to go full force and we as parents of Georgie urge/beg and plead with you to consider anything you can do to help get Georgie this life changing surgery, aftercare and equipment she so desperately needs.
www.helpgeorgie.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HelpGeorgie/
https://twitter.com/HelpGeorgie
https://helpgeorgieblog.wordpress.com/
Organizer
Clare Gibbs
Organizer
