finns fund for walking

Hello Again,

Apologies, we have been experiencing some technichal difficulties but hopefully all is sorted now however I have reposted the most recent info below in case.

Oct 2nd The Blackstone group deserve a special mention for their generosity - possibly at the disbelief that Alex finished the 18.7km Tough Mudder but as you can see (Luan, Alex, Dave, Alan, Jo & Mick) he was a muddy finisher and laughing till the end.
I must mention the usual suspects the Doyles & Capuana's and all of our generous supporters.

Big News - The UBand and Michelle OConnell have generously agreed to play another benefit concert. We put our heads together and came up with the idea of a Christmas do at the Rugby Club in Terenure. Everyones's invited &or welcome to support in any way

The club is holding December 8th for us. Please save the date in your calendar and here's to a great night

Sept 22nd - Marching on¦.
Hello to everyone and I hope you had a good Summer! As usual I have been less than regular with my Finnbo updates but as john Lennon said, life is what happens while you are busy making plans. And we are now making plans for the next step. It's now 18 months since Finn had his lower spine (SDR) operation and he has made fantastic progress. This was not a panacea and did not remove Finn's Cerebral Palsy but it has stopped locking him in his own body and has enabled him to learn he can do new things for himself and his sitting is greatly improved, he is getting stronger every day on his walkers and for these advances we are delighted.
As you can see from the videos his movement is a lot more controlled and he enjoys walking and cycling daily. His challenge this summer was to get on his Kaye walker with Claire not having to support him too much – he is nearly nearly there and the progress in the last couple of weeks has been amazing.
I have to mention Claire again here, the operation is really only the beginning of the work, the real benefit is gained by a constant schedule of exercise, massage, physio, equipment, leg braces and just genuine hard graft. Claire and Finn have a daily routine starting from the moment we get up with 30 minutes of stretching and rolling on the kitchen floor before school - to a daily dedicated home programme of push ups, specific exercises and walking on his Kaye walker and Buddy Roamer and biking riding around our neighbourhood. This is supplemented weekly with a great physio Kishan Mistri in Naas and intense sessions over 1 and 2 week periods in Scotland every couple of months with "Walk this Way" - Mike Poole and Charli who continue to be an amazing help - as well as daily bike rides, walkers and weekend swimming – and also the Enable appointments for his specialized equipment. As such, the original pot of funds is depleted so we are starting a new challenge.
The SDR and PERCS operations were amazing on getting rid of Finns spasticity in his lower body and legs but has no real impact on his upper body and arms and as Finn is affected in all 4 limbs we now need to concentrate on these now.
Finn and Claire will fly to Texas at the end of October to have SPML with Dr Yngve – he will do tendon lengthening on Finn's shoulders and elbows and nerve blockers in his arms – this should hopefully release his arms out and let him start using the correct muscles instead of constantly fighting the spasticity and tone in his arms.
We have reset the new target of €27,500 for the new challenge. This will cover treatments, flights, accommodation and further physio trips etc . We have our first donation from our generous neighbours who had a Summer Fun Day so a special thanks to Grainne and Eileen who organized the very successful community day out, that finished in the wee hours of the morning.


Finally some words on the main man himself, Finn. He will be 9 in November and has recently started Second class in St Pius boys school. This is his Communion year “ Excitement is already building but the jury is still out on whether it is the prospect of entering Gods community or the rumours that he gets cold hard cash“ probably a bit of both. He really is growing up and thriving in front of us. I completely admit that I am biased but he is a great kid with an infectious laugh and wants to be involved in as many things as possible, same as any other 8 year old.

Well that's all folks! Thanks for taking an inter