Help Maggie Walk!
Donation protected
Maggie is a beautiful, energetic, fun-loving 4 year old little girl who smiles more than anyone you've ever met! Maggie also has Cerebral Palsy and is on a journey to take her first independent steps! While other 4 year olds are running around, climbing trees and playing games, Maggie is busy going to therapy and working hard to perform basic tasks we take for granted such as sitting up, crawling and learning to self feed, stand and even walk. Her intelligence and desire to learn is matched only by her motivation to one day “walk and run and climb and hop and dance” as she says in her nightly prayers.
Her story
Maggie was diagnosed with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy when she was 17 months old. The Neurologist attested to this diagnosis as a result of her umbilical cord being double knotted in utero and therefore areas of her brain were damaged during development. She began Early Intervention at 8 months old, the diagnosis not changing the path her therapy needed to take. Maggie had wonderful therapists and made great strides but as time progressed, her progress slowed down. And while we, her parents, remained hopeful she would stand, walk and complete many other functions like children her age, the therapeutic community gradually became less optimistic. Several were beginning to advise us to begin using assistive equipment, such as a wheelchair.
What happened next
We found Health in Motion in Toronto where Natan Gendelman, the director, created a LIFE (Learning Independent Function Everyday) rehabilitation program for children who need help meeting developmental milestones. In September 2013, we took a big leap of faith and drove to Toronto. By the end of the first day, we were glad we went. We were amazed at the progress she made during this four week program: she worked on rolling, sitting, crawling, standing and walking properly. We learned transitioning from task to task is the most important movement to gain trunk control, every movement stems from our trunk. All her movements were assisted by Natan with physical and verbal cues. He told her what to do, how to do it, guided her and restrained the improper movements. But the movements themselves she was doing. By day 3 he was putting her in a walker to test the waters and she did a great job, so we canceled her wheelchair order.
After that first day and week, we knew we wanted and needed to return in order to give our daughter the best possible chance at an independent life. We managed to fund the first trip ourselves but knew going forward this would not be an option. We created Maggie in Motion as a platform to begin our fund raising efforts.
We have had great success with Maggie's website alone plus several events to “Help Maggie Walk” including trivia nights, Mary Kay & 31 parties, a cookout and a bake sale. These all helped us raise about $25,000 since last November when we started that have allowed us to take two additional trips, three total in the last 12 months. Maggie has continued to improve with each trip to Health in Motion- she can crawl efficiently, go down the stairs independently and climb up with someone behind her just to be safe, her speech is clearer and the amount of people who can understand her is growing, she is potty-trained, pulling up properly with little to no assistance and standing for longer periods both supported (at a couch) and unassisted (in the middle of the room). Needless to say, she's much more independent now than she was before we started this journey.
Hope for the future
While Natan does not promise or make predictions for the future, there is hope. Hope that she will become independent. Hope that she will walk. There is much hard work to be done, this is not an overnight transformation, but with continued visits to Health in Motion and following the LIFE program between visits, he thinks and we believe by what we've observed, that Maggie learning to walk is a very real possibility. And we have faith in this program, that she will walk and that God lead us to Health in Motion.
Our Goal
We want to make at least 3 trips next year, so our goal is $30,000 by April 2015. That's the same amount of money we've raised thus far in less than half the time. After several people recommended Go Fund Me, we decided to reach out to wonderful people like you to help us raise that money and Help Maggie Walk! Any additional funding will go toward additional trips and our ultimate goal of Maggie walking into school on her first day of Kindergarten!
Please Help
What would you do if your child could not sit, stand, or walk? If they were given a bleak prognosis? If they were the sweetest little child you've ever met but had to sit on the sidelines and watch the other kids run off to play?
This is Maggie's chance.
She is four now and the older she gets, the harder it is to carry her around. Please join us on our journey to help Maggie walk into Kindergarten! Every dollar counts, but you can also support Maggie by sharing her story and praying for our family. We are so grateful for your time reading this page and from parent to parent, mother to mother,father to father, friend to friend or person to person, thank you for considering our little girl, and our family in your personal giving, sharing and/or prayers!!
Thank you and God Bless,
Daniel & Amanda
More information and other donation option: http://maggieinmotion.lotekness.net
Follow us: www.facebook.com/maggieinmotion
Her story
Maggie was diagnosed with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy when she was 17 months old. The Neurologist attested to this diagnosis as a result of her umbilical cord being double knotted in utero and therefore areas of her brain were damaged during development. She began Early Intervention at 8 months old, the diagnosis not changing the path her therapy needed to take. Maggie had wonderful therapists and made great strides but as time progressed, her progress slowed down. And while we, her parents, remained hopeful she would stand, walk and complete many other functions like children her age, the therapeutic community gradually became less optimistic. Several were beginning to advise us to begin using assistive equipment, such as a wheelchair.
What happened next
We found Health in Motion in Toronto where Natan Gendelman, the director, created a LIFE (Learning Independent Function Everyday) rehabilitation program for children who need help meeting developmental milestones. In September 2013, we took a big leap of faith and drove to Toronto. By the end of the first day, we were glad we went. We were amazed at the progress she made during this four week program: she worked on rolling, sitting, crawling, standing and walking properly. We learned transitioning from task to task is the most important movement to gain trunk control, every movement stems from our trunk. All her movements were assisted by Natan with physical and verbal cues. He told her what to do, how to do it, guided her and restrained the improper movements. But the movements themselves she was doing. By day 3 he was putting her in a walker to test the waters and she did a great job, so we canceled her wheelchair order.
After that first day and week, we knew we wanted and needed to return in order to give our daughter the best possible chance at an independent life. We managed to fund the first trip ourselves but knew going forward this would not be an option. We created Maggie in Motion as a platform to begin our fund raising efforts. We have had great success with Maggie's website alone plus several events to “Help Maggie Walk” including trivia nights, Mary Kay & 31 parties, a cookout and a bake sale. These all helped us raise about $25,000 since last November when we started that have allowed us to take two additional trips, three total in the last 12 months. Maggie has continued to improve with each trip to Health in Motion- she can crawl efficiently, go down the stairs independently and climb up with someone behind her just to be safe, her speech is clearer and the amount of people who can understand her is growing, she is potty-trained, pulling up properly with little to no assistance and standing for longer periods both supported (at a couch) and unassisted (in the middle of the room). Needless to say, she's much more independent now than she was before we started this journey.
Hope for the future
While Natan does not promise or make predictions for the future, there is hope. Hope that she will become independent. Hope that she will walk. There is much hard work to be done, this is not an overnight transformation, but with continued visits to Health in Motion and following the LIFE program between visits, he thinks and we believe by what we've observed, that Maggie learning to walk is a very real possibility. And we have faith in this program, that she will walk and that God lead us to Health in Motion.
Our Goal
We want to make at least 3 trips next year, so our goal is $30,000 by April 2015. That's the same amount of money we've raised thus far in less than half the time. After several people recommended Go Fund Me, we decided to reach out to wonderful people like you to help us raise that money and Help Maggie Walk! Any additional funding will go toward additional trips and our ultimate goal of Maggie walking into school on her first day of Kindergarten!
Please Help
What would you do if your child could not sit, stand, or walk? If they were given a bleak prognosis? If they were the sweetest little child you've ever met but had to sit on the sidelines and watch the other kids run off to play?
This is Maggie's chance.
She is four now and the older she gets, the harder it is to carry her around. Please join us on our journey to help Maggie walk into Kindergarten! Every dollar counts, but you can also support Maggie by sharing her story and praying for our family. We are so grateful for your time reading this page and from parent to parent, mother to mother,father to father, friend to friend or person to person, thank you for considering our little girl, and our family in your personal giving, sharing and/or prayers!!
Thank you and God Bless,
Daniel & Amanda
More information and other donation option: http://maggieinmotion.lotekness.net
Follow us: www.facebook.com/maggieinmotion
Organiser
Amanda George Belcher
Organiser
Lakewood, TN
