Finlays First Steps

Hi Everyone

Our little boy Finlay was born 3 months premature, at the height of COVID lockdown in May 2020, weighing in at just under 2lbs. Within 48hrs of being born Finlay had a significant bleed on his brain, spending his first 4 months in hospital, initially in Cork before being transferred to Temple Street in Dublin where he split his time between Intensive Care and High Dependency Units. He underwent 9 neuro-surgeries to install a device called a VP shunt. Despite a long list of complications, infections and setbacks Finlay got out of hospital in September 2020.

As a result of his injury, Finlay has Cerebral Palsy (CP grade IV) severely affecting his left side, he finds it difficult to sit, cannot stand or walk and use of his left arm and hand is limited. Finlay also has a condition called Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) which has a significant impact on his vision, while also being diagnosed as non-verbal. Finlay currently attends ECC pre-school in Naas three days a week and Child Vision Ireland (National Education Centre for Blind Children) in Drumcondra Dublin two days a week.

Regardless of his diagnosis, Finlay is an incredibly happy and determined little toddler and super big bro to his little sister Eva. He works hard every day on his therapy and exercises to improve his strength and mobility. One day Finlay will take his first independent steps. Knowing what he has already overcome, we strongly believe Finlay will achieve this goal too.

Early intervention, at a young age, from multiple disciplines (e.g. Physiotherapy, Occupational, Speech & Language) is crucial to maximise his future potential. The evidence is clear on this. For a while, Finlay was getting reasonable levels of service from the state agencies responsible for children with disabilities. However, in the last 18 months its been apparent to us that children's disability services in Ireland are inadequate. The system is overloaded, the therapists are overworked and understaffed. The provision of services for children with disabilities in Ireland has shocked us.

We have had to fund much of Finlays therapy and equipment, and have taken it upon ourselves to seek the best services in and out of Ireland to help Finlay. We want to provide him with most impactful and evidence based therapies/equipment that he needs to have a better quality of life now and into the future. However, ongoing private therapies are incredibly expensive.

Finlay has been lucky enough to secure a 3 week intensive place on the NAPA (https://napacenter.org/) programme in California, USA in January 2024. Finlay will be doing intensive Physio, OT and Speech and Language this year. Our goals for him in 2024 are to take his first steps, while improving his communication with us.

It has been difficult for us to decide to do a “Go Fund Me” for Finlay. All donations will be used for Finlays therapies (including NAPA) and equipment in order to maximise the next couple of years where early intervention can have transformative effects.

Please support our fundraiser for Finlay in any way you can. If you do so anonymously, please let us know so we can thank you properly.

Heartfelt thank you for any donation you can give to support Finlays treatment.

Alan & Susie (Finlays dad and mum)