Dear family and friends—

We are humbly reaching out to ask for support for our family, namely sweet baby Koda. As you may know, Koda needed help to take his first breath after birth and sustained a brain injury. Since our 13-day NICU stay, we have experienced challenges related to his birth experience and injury including; feeding and weight-gaining difficulties, torticollis, muscle tension throughout his body, and ultimately, movement-related developmental delays such as trouble rolling, sitting up, crawling, grabbing and holding objects, and even babbling. His delays are currently not associated with a specific diagnosis but cerebral palsy is a very common outcome of this sort of brain injury at birth.

We have devoted a lot of time and energy to helping our precious boy feel comfortable in his body and thrive, while doing our best as parents to survive a very overwhelming and exhausting experience. We have taken him to therapeutic appointments of many kinds at least once a week for all of his life. Our little man has had more bodywork than most grown-ups. :) And with all of that, we are still aware that he is needing more help to optimize his movements and body awareness.

We have recently learned of and started Koda in a physical therapy/occupational therapy modality called Anat Baniel Method that is extremely well suited for his condition. The stories we have heard of how it has helped some babies and children in similar or much more challenging situations are miraculous. We completed our first intensive last month and saw a huge shift in his movements and body awareness. We are so excited to continue doing more intensives with him and learning to support him ourselves from the therapists as coaching the parents is a big part of these sessions.

This is where we need help. This kind of therapy is not covered by insurance and while we are hoping to be able to budget an intensive every season or so, the brain is said to be the most neuroplastic in the first year of life so being able to do a few more relatively soon would help him to optimize his development. Each intensive costs around $800-$1000 consisting of twice per day, 1 hour sessions for 3-4 days straight.

We would be so grateful for anything you are willing and able to help with! Including prayers, love and visions of our sweet boy living his most fulfilled and happy life. ❤️