Grant's walk-aide fund

Grant is our 3 year old son, who was born with bi-lateral club feet and low-non muscle response/control below both knees.  Grant is a very affectionate boy with 2 older brothers that he thinks he is the boss of.  He loves anything to do with throwing a ball, driving cars, airplanes, and loves to go FAST on water slides, boats, and anything that can accelerate. 

Since he was five days old, he has been treated for his club feet and has had tendon surgery and multiple serial castings over his short life span. While treating his club feet, we noticed that his calf muscles were not able to function correctly. He is not able to lift his feet towards his body, unable to move his feet from side to side, is not able to wiggle his outer toes, and can barely go up on his toes to reach something. Since this is the case, he has not been able to learn how to run (he has not run once in his life yet), cannot push bike pedals down to learn to ride a bike, in order to walk he has to overcompensate for his feet hanging that he picks his knees up higher in order to not trip, and has a very hard time not tripping while going up stairs.   

We have taken him to Primary's Children Hospital in Phoenix, AZ and to Shriner's Hospital in Salt Lake City and have run multiple tests to see what  could be done.  He underwent a full body MRI and an EMG (diagnostic procedure to asses the health of muscles and the nerve cells that control them) which shows that his muscle fibers are all normal.  The neurologists we have seen do not see any reason why his muscles are not responding normally.   

We are now in his third year of life and this past summer we did a walk-aide trial with the Hanger Clinic based in Scottsdale, AZ to see if we can "Wake-up" his muscles.  The walk-aides send light electro shocks into his muscles in order to make them contract.  We could not try this option until now, based on the fact that he is so young. According to the doctors, he has everything he needs to use those muscles, so now we are trying to wake them up.   He has responded well to having the walk-aides on and we can start to feel and see slight muscle movement.  As you can see in the pictures, his calf-muscles are no-where to be seen, the walk-aides will take time since Grant has never used those muscles before. We are very hopeful that with continued time with the walk-aides, Grant's muscles will start responding and he will learn how to conract those muscles voluntarilly. We are looking forward to the day when he will be able to run, ride a bike, and do things that will bring him joy.

However, our trial period has come to an end and now we are trying to find a way to purchse 2 walk-aides for Grant.  Each walk-aide is $5,000.  We are hoping that you will donate what you can to help us purchse 2 walk-aides for Grant.  I know that there are so many other ways you may be helping those around you, but our family would be forever grateful for any help you could give. Thank you.