Joshy's hoist for hydrotherapy
Donation protected
Please help to fund a hoist for Joshy so that he can have hydrotherapy at home which will improve his quality of life, help with his pain and respiratory problems, and will be lots of fun for him...
Joshy Loves water...
It's too dangerous to lift Joshy in ourselves we need to use a hoist...which cost £2824!!!
Joshys story...
Joshy Leech was born on 25th June 2000 a normal birth and uneventful pregnancy. Joshy seemed to cry most of the time and although health visitors kept telling me that it was colic I knew, as Joshys mum, that it was more than that. I took Joshy to the GP when he was 6 weeks old because I was sure that Joshy was in pain. My poor baby screamed so much. The GP picked up that Joshy’s soft spot was nearly gone and we all fell into an unexpected world of fear and devestation when the peadiatrition mentioned ‘brain damage’. My baby couldn’t have brain damage nothing had happened to him. An onslaught of tests and watching him lose the ability to feed orally eventually led to a collection of symptoms (syndromes) and no ‘label’. Microcephaly, quadrapegic cerebral palsy, intractable epilepsy, cortical blindness, infantile spasms…and the worst…a short life expectancy. I don’t like labels anyway. Joshy is Joshy and we don’t need medical words to describe him. I held Joshy tightly as I asked the wonderful neurologist what Joshys life expectancy was likely to be. We were told that Joshy was unlikely to reach 3 but if he reached 3 he would probably live till around 5ish.
We learnt everything that we could to care for Joshy. Researching therapeutic and alternative treatments. Learning how to suction, give injections, nasogastric feeding, chest physio. Long story short we learned to be Joshys intensive carers ontop of being his parents…and I feel that this is why Joshy has chosen to still be here with us…at 16.
We have had many end of life episodes which take us towards an inevitable world that is unimaginably painful for us. We know that Joshy has been lent to us for a short time and we are so grateful to have every moment with Joshy. The difficulties and challenges, sitting with the reality of his short life expectancy have changed us all. We care for Joshy palliatively and without hospitals, we can provide the same amount of oxygen that a hospital can and we care for Joshy 24 hours a day. We need to suction Joshy to maintain his airways and when he’s unwell it’s constant care.
2009 Joshy nearly died from swine flu...
The smallest cold is a threat to Joshys life
We love Joshy and would do anything to keep him happy and comfortable. What I wasn’t expecting, nievely, was that as Joshy got bigger his poor body became more twisted and his bones became weaker. Joshy has permanently dislocated hips because of his cerebral palsy and muscle tone and he has had his first broken bone due to his poor bone density.
Water is Joshys love. His body feels lighter, Joshy can kick his legs. Water offers Joshy hydrotherapy and it provides Joshy a wonderful sensory experience. Not only that but it helps his chest (Joshy is in respiratory failure). We try to go on holidays which provide Joshy with the opportunity to go into water. But when he broke his leg we had booked a special holiday in a house with its own pool and hoist but Joshy couldn’t go into the pool. I felt determined to do something. We looked at getting a hot tub on finance so that Joshy could have hydrotherapy at home anytime and so that we could share some quality family time together. Joshy loves going in a hot tub and it’s wonderful to have his brothers sharing that.
My mum was also devestated by Joshys injury and wanted to do something to help Joshy. Long story short my mum has ordered and paid for a very special hot tub for Joshy. It has sensory lights, speakers so that it can play music and various hydrotherapy jets. Joshy will have his hot tub in November and we can’t wait to get him into the water.
We are fundraising for a hoist which will safely lift Joshy from his wheelchair into the hot tub. Joshy is completely imobile and can not even support his own head so it’s a vital piece of specialised equiptment. Because it is for a hot tub we can not get any funding from health or the government. The hoist is £2824. Without it we have to pick Joshy up and lift Joshy ourselves out of his wheelchair and back in when he is wet. This is dangerous, back breaking (Joshy weighs around 7 stone) and could cause injury to Joshy because of his brittle bones.
Thanks for taking the time for reading about Joshy and we are grateful for any support that you might be able to offer towards funding the hoist which will help improve Joshys quality of life and physical health through the use of his hot tub. If we are fortunate to raise any extra funds this would go towards awning and sensory equiptment.
Thank you x Rachel x Joshys mum x
Joshy Loves water...It's too dangerous to lift Joshy in ourselves we need to use a hoist...which cost £2824!!!Joshys story...Joshy Leech was born on 25th June 2000 a normal birth and uneventful pregnancy. Joshy seemed to cry most of the time and although health visitors kept telling me that it was colic I knew, as Joshys mum, that it was more than that. I took Joshy to the GP when he was 6 weeks old because I was sure that Joshy was in pain. My poor baby screamed so much. The GP picked up that Joshy’s soft spot was nearly gone and we all fell into an unexpected world of fear and devestation when the peadiatrition mentioned ‘brain damage’. My baby couldn’t have brain damage nothing had happened to him. An onslaught of tests and watching him lose the ability to feed orally eventually led to a collection of symptoms (syndromes) and no ‘label’. Microcephaly, quadrapegic cerebral palsy, intractable epilepsy, cortical blindness, infantile spasms…and the worst…a short life expectancy. I don’t like labels anyway. Joshy is Joshy and we don’t need medical words to describe him. I held Joshy tightly as I asked the wonderful neurologist what Joshys life expectancy was likely to be. We were told that Joshy was unlikely to reach 3 but if he reached 3 he would probably live till around 5ish.
We learnt everything that we could to care for Joshy. Researching therapeutic and alternative treatments. Learning how to suction, give injections, nasogastric feeding, chest physio. Long story short we learned to be Joshys intensive carers ontop of being his parents…and I feel that this is why Joshy has chosen to still be here with us…at 16.
We have had many end of life episodes which take us towards an inevitable world that is unimaginably painful for us. We know that Joshy has been lent to us for a short time and we are so grateful to have every moment with Joshy. The difficulties and challenges, sitting with the reality of his short life expectancy have changed us all. We care for Joshy palliatively and without hospitals, we can provide the same amount of oxygen that a hospital can and we care for Joshy 24 hours a day. We need to suction Joshy to maintain his airways and when he’s unwell it’s constant care.
2009 Joshy nearly died from swine flu...The smallest cold is a threat to Joshys lifeWe love Joshy and would do anything to keep him happy and comfortable. What I wasn’t expecting, nievely, was that as Joshy got bigger his poor body became more twisted and his bones became weaker. Joshy has permanently dislocated hips because of his cerebral palsy and muscle tone and he has had his first broken bone due to his poor bone density.
Water is Joshys love. His body feels lighter, Joshy can kick his legs. Water offers Joshy hydrotherapy and it provides Joshy a wonderful sensory experience. Not only that but it helps his chest (Joshy is in respiratory failure). We try to go on holidays which provide Joshy with the opportunity to go into water. But when he broke his leg we had booked a special holiday in a house with its own pool and hoist but Joshy couldn’t go into the pool. I felt determined to do something. We looked at getting a hot tub on finance so that Joshy could have hydrotherapy at home anytime and so that we could share some quality family time together. Joshy loves going in a hot tub and it’s wonderful to have his brothers sharing that. My mum was also devestated by Joshys injury and wanted to do something to help Joshy. Long story short my mum has ordered and paid for a very special hot tub for Joshy. It has sensory lights, speakers so that it can play music and various hydrotherapy jets. Joshy will have his hot tub in November and we can’t wait to get him into the water.We are fundraising for a hoist which will safely lift Joshy from his wheelchair into the hot tub. Joshy is completely imobile and can not even support his own head so it’s a vital piece of specialised equiptment. Because it is for a hot tub we can not get any funding from health or the government. The hoist is £2824. Without it we have to pick Joshy up and lift Joshy ourselves out of his wheelchair and back in when he is wet. This is dangerous, back breaking (Joshy weighs around 7 stone) and could cause injury to Joshy because of his brittle bones. Thanks for taking the time for reading about Joshy and we are grateful for any support that you might be able to offer towards funding the hoist which will help improve Joshys quality of life and physical health through the use of his hot tub. If we are fortunate to raise any extra funds this would go towards awning and sensory equiptment.
Thank you x Rachel x Joshys mum x
Organizer
Ray Zul
Organizer