Atticus's Therapy Fund
Donation protected
Normally we aren't ones to ask for financial assistance or help from others when it comes to personal family matters, but for our son Atticus we do what we need to do to ensure he gets the care he needs.
Atticus was born a full term baby after an easy and normal pregnancy, but suffered an event at birth called Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy, which means his brain was starved of oxygen for long enough to cause brain damage. He was cooled for 72 hours to preserve his brain and prevent further damage, but sadly it cannot reverse what had already been done. During that time he suffered from seizures and other issues and as a result spent 5 weeks in the NICU at Phoenix Children's Hospital. He came out of it doing much better than expected from his doctors. He could breastfeed successfully and is a very happy and vibrant little boy. We have been fortunate that his medical needs have not been too severe, but he still has his struggles.
He is turning one year old June 21st and he does not sit independently, crawl, walk, and has a lot of issues using his hands and struggles with spasticity issues with his arms, and is having minor feeding issues that have affected his weight gain. He has Hypotonia (severe low muscle tone) and we suspect he has Cerebral Palsy but have yet to get a confirmed diagnosis from his neurologist.
In all of this we have tirelessly been doing research and trying different therapies in an effort to help our son thrive and have the best quality of life he can. Through traditional physical therapy and occupational therapy we found the Anat Baniel Method. We have seen the most gain from this style of therapy and he has learned and enjoyed it more than anything else. The downside is this method is not covered by insurance and it is very expensive. This is where we are asking for help.
We plan to have Atticus do bursts of intensive ABM therapy every few weeks along with his normal OT and speech therapy that is funded through the state. Doing this requires us to travel more than 2 hours away and spend days at a time away from home for him to receive the benefits of ABM, at times even traveling out of state to the Anat Baniel Center in California.
Any donations are so greatly appreciated. All we want is for our son to live his best life and realize his fullest potential. We could not have gotten through this first year of his life without the community support we have received.
Thank you for reading our story and we plan to post any updates with his health and progress as they come.
If you would like to learn more about the Anat Baniel Method, follow this link to the website: https://www.anatbanielmethod.com
The work Anat and her practitioners have done to help improve the lives of children and adults with special needs has been nothing short of amazing.
Atticus was born a full term baby after an easy and normal pregnancy, but suffered an event at birth called Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy, which means his brain was starved of oxygen for long enough to cause brain damage. He was cooled for 72 hours to preserve his brain and prevent further damage, but sadly it cannot reverse what had already been done. During that time he suffered from seizures and other issues and as a result spent 5 weeks in the NICU at Phoenix Children's Hospital. He came out of it doing much better than expected from his doctors. He could breastfeed successfully and is a very happy and vibrant little boy. We have been fortunate that his medical needs have not been too severe, but he still has his struggles.
He is turning one year old June 21st and he does not sit independently, crawl, walk, and has a lot of issues using his hands and struggles with spasticity issues with his arms, and is having minor feeding issues that have affected his weight gain. He has Hypotonia (severe low muscle tone) and we suspect he has Cerebral Palsy but have yet to get a confirmed diagnosis from his neurologist.
In all of this we have tirelessly been doing research and trying different therapies in an effort to help our son thrive and have the best quality of life he can. Through traditional physical therapy and occupational therapy we found the Anat Baniel Method. We have seen the most gain from this style of therapy and he has learned and enjoyed it more than anything else. The downside is this method is not covered by insurance and it is very expensive. This is where we are asking for help.
We plan to have Atticus do bursts of intensive ABM therapy every few weeks along with his normal OT and speech therapy that is funded through the state. Doing this requires us to travel more than 2 hours away and spend days at a time away from home for him to receive the benefits of ABM, at times even traveling out of state to the Anat Baniel Center in California.
Any donations are so greatly appreciated. All we want is for our son to live his best life and realize his fullest potential. We could not have gotten through this first year of his life without the community support we have received.
Thank you for reading our story and we plan to post any updates with his health and progress as they come.
If you would like to learn more about the Anat Baniel Method, follow this link to the website: https://www.anatbanielmethod.com
The work Anat and her practitioners have done to help improve the lives of children and adults with special needs has been nothing short of amazing.
Organizer
Tianna Behnke
Organizer
Cottonwood, AZ
