Help Demir Overcome his Health Challenges
Doação protegida
Welcome to Help Demir overcome his health challenges donation page.
This page is dedicated to our son Demir, who is almost 3 years old. He is very loving, happy, and full of positive energy and love for life and for everything around him. He has a kind soul and a big heart and loves to play with adults, children, and dogs. His favourite activities are walking, playing with the ball, watching cartoons and listening to classical music.
Recently, Demir has been diagnosed with moderate diplegia, which is a type of Cerebral Palsy. Although CP cases are never the same and vary in severity and type, CP is caused by the brain injury that affects motor function – the ability to control the movement of the body in a desired matter. His legs are most affected by this injury, as can be seen by poor muscle tone, lack of control, and balance.
As in most CP cases, his road to this diagnosis has not been an easy one, resulting in the delayed treatment, causing more and more delays in his development. Although parental involvement and observation are incredibly important in monitoring their child's development, doctors are still necessary for the official diagnosis. Too often, when we talked about Demir's delayed milestones, doctors told us to just give him time and he will catch up. After numerous visits to various doctors and physiotherapists, we started to understand more and more that this is not something that will simply go away with time. Milestones that are relatively easy for most children in their first few years of life, such as rolling over, sitting, crawling, walking, jumping, eating solid food, holding a spoon, etc. were all big challenges for our baby Demir. When he was finally referred to CHEO to be assessed and tested by developmental specialists (when he was around 2 years old), we were put on the waitlist, which set him back almost another whole year. That is why he got his official diagnosis only in March, a week before everything closed due to COVID-19. At the moment, it is becoming harder and harder to catch up to all milestones, which means he needs treatments as often as possible.
Demir’s particular CP diagnosis means that he has challenges in the following main areas:
1) Gross motor skills
In fact, up to this day, he has not fully mastered walking. He has to wear special custom-made braces and needs to keep working hard on his gross motor skills to learn how to walk up the stairs without anyone's help. He also needs to gain more muscle strength, control, and balance to be able to do basic things, such as squatting, getting up from the chair on his own, and jumping. His running is also clumsy and not well-controlled, causing him to frequently fall, which is why he needs help of physiotherapists who can provide specialized exercises and treatments to eventually (and hopefully) learn all these essential skills.
2) Fine motor skills
No matter how hard we work with him at home, he has trouble holding a spoon and self-feeding, drinking from a cup, dressing himself, and doing other basic things. Although he can hold various items well, it is manipulating them correctly that presents the biggest challenge for him and we are hoping that a specialized occupational therapist will be able to help him learn these skills.
3) Speech/Language skills
Cerebral Palsy affects motor skills, which are essential in formation of words and sentences. That is why for Demir, learning to speak is much harder than for most other children.
To help improve his motor and speech skills, to teach him everyday skills and to give him a chance at leading a normal life in the future, Demir needs weekly treatments with numerous qualified specialists (physiotherapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist, in addition to stimulating massages and other therapies - water therapy/swimming, etc.) We are afraid that without proper and regular treatment, his delays will not improve, and his condition may worsen. My husband and I work very hard to provide the best possible treatments for our son, but it is becoming harder and harder covering the bills for the services that he so desperately needs and will require on a regular basis for the years to come.
We are asking our community, family, friends and everyone willing to help donate or simply share our page. Every effort and donation makes a difference and will help our son Demir get the services he needs, so he will have a better chance at success in his life. We express our appreciation to everyone who is willing to help our family in this challenging time.
Please share this Go Fund Me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and get your friends and family to do the same! Myself and my family will forever be grateful for it.
This page is dedicated to our son Demir, who is almost 3 years old. He is very loving, happy, and full of positive energy and love for life and for everything around him. He has a kind soul and a big heart and loves to play with adults, children, and dogs. His favourite activities are walking, playing with the ball, watching cartoons and listening to classical music.
Recently, Demir has been diagnosed with moderate diplegia, which is a type of Cerebral Palsy. Although CP cases are never the same and vary in severity and type, CP is caused by the brain injury that affects motor function – the ability to control the movement of the body in a desired matter. His legs are most affected by this injury, as can be seen by poor muscle tone, lack of control, and balance.
As in most CP cases, his road to this diagnosis has not been an easy one, resulting in the delayed treatment, causing more and more delays in his development. Although parental involvement and observation are incredibly important in monitoring their child's development, doctors are still necessary for the official diagnosis. Too often, when we talked about Demir's delayed milestones, doctors told us to just give him time and he will catch up. After numerous visits to various doctors and physiotherapists, we started to understand more and more that this is not something that will simply go away with time. Milestones that are relatively easy for most children in their first few years of life, such as rolling over, sitting, crawling, walking, jumping, eating solid food, holding a spoon, etc. were all big challenges for our baby Demir. When he was finally referred to CHEO to be assessed and tested by developmental specialists (when he was around 2 years old), we were put on the waitlist, which set him back almost another whole year. That is why he got his official diagnosis only in March, a week before everything closed due to COVID-19. At the moment, it is becoming harder and harder to catch up to all milestones, which means he needs treatments as often as possible.
Demir’s particular CP diagnosis means that he has challenges in the following main areas:
1) Gross motor skills
In fact, up to this day, he has not fully mastered walking. He has to wear special custom-made braces and needs to keep working hard on his gross motor skills to learn how to walk up the stairs without anyone's help. He also needs to gain more muscle strength, control, and balance to be able to do basic things, such as squatting, getting up from the chair on his own, and jumping. His running is also clumsy and not well-controlled, causing him to frequently fall, which is why he needs help of physiotherapists who can provide specialized exercises and treatments to eventually (and hopefully) learn all these essential skills.
2) Fine motor skills
No matter how hard we work with him at home, he has trouble holding a spoon and self-feeding, drinking from a cup, dressing himself, and doing other basic things. Although he can hold various items well, it is manipulating them correctly that presents the biggest challenge for him and we are hoping that a specialized occupational therapist will be able to help him learn these skills.
3) Speech/Language skills
Cerebral Palsy affects motor skills, which are essential in formation of words and sentences. That is why for Demir, learning to speak is much harder than for most other children.
To help improve his motor and speech skills, to teach him everyday skills and to give him a chance at leading a normal life in the future, Demir needs weekly treatments with numerous qualified specialists (physiotherapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist, in addition to stimulating massages and other therapies - water therapy/swimming, etc.) We are afraid that without proper and regular treatment, his delays will not improve, and his condition may worsen. My husband and I work very hard to provide the best possible treatments for our son, but it is becoming harder and harder covering the bills for the services that he so desperately needs and will require on a regular basis for the years to come.
We are asking our community, family, friends and everyone willing to help donate or simply share our page. Every effort and donation makes a difference and will help our son Demir get the services he needs, so he will have a better chance at success in his life. We express our appreciation to everyone who is willing to help our family in this challenging time.
Please share this Go Fund Me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and get your friends and family to do the same! Myself and my family will forever be grateful for it.
Organizador
Anastassia Grankina
Organizador
Nepean, ON