Brave Lil Bradley's Helmet Fund
Those close to my family and I know how much my nephew has gone through since he was born on January 3, 2021. For those of you who don't, here's a bit of his story.
Bradley was born 5 weeks prematurely with a brain bleed that caused a neurological condition called Hydrocephalus, which resulted in a brain surgery at 29 days old to place a VP shunt in his head.
For the first 2 months of his life, Bradley, my brother Michael and sister in law Kristen - lived at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. With the timing of COVID, only one of them was allowed in the hospital to visit with him at a time, so they took shifts to ensure that one of them was there with him at all times. My brother and Kristen live in Alliston, so the drive back and forth to Sick Kids everyday ( 1.5 hrs) also took a toll on them - not to mention the cost daily for gas and parking at the hospital. At this point, Kristen had already gone on maternity leave.. leaving my brother the only one able to work at the time. Unfortunately, my brother also had to take 3 months off work to be with Bradley during all of his MRI appointments, tests and surgical procedures. This meant, that the only income coming in was unemployment. We all know... one cannot depend on that, especially trying to support a new family.
So, here we are...
The shunt unfortunately causes him discomfort which forces him to sleep on one side of his head, and now he has Flat Head Syndrome (Plagiocephaly) and is in need of a helmet to reshape his skull. The helmet costs $2,600 and is unfortunately not covered by insurance. The reason this isn't covered is because they consider this "cosmetic". In Bradley's case, this is clearly due to his medical conditions as he was forced to sleep on the opposite side of his head for months post surgery.
My nephew, is the happiest little dude but definitely has a long road ahead of him. He has monthly PT and OT to help manage leg and arm dystonia, amongst some other developmental issues.
Bradley was on a list for the initial fitting of his helmet for the last 2.5 months and finally, just got a last minute appointment this coming Monday!
I feel the need to mention that obviously, my brother and Kristen did not want to ask for help, but at this point can not take the appointment unless they have the funds to cover the cost.
I'm writing this in hopes that we can help them raise this money to get this lil dude his new helmet, to get one step closer to his healing.
Thank You for taking the time to read and share if you can <3
Kristina