Once upon a time....... if only all stories were a fairy tale.
Today's request for support has a story that sits close to my heart.
In 2013 I was an auntie to a baby boy, so beautiful, so loved. He was the 1st boy to a family of 3 girls. He entered the world a healthy & happy baby boy. The family and I were so pleased to have another boy to even out the ratio of girls to boys.
In 2013 August bank holiday weekend, our families world was shattered and my nephews life was to change forever......
My nephew was the victim of a brutal and unspeakable act of shaking baby syndrome, from someone who was meant to be his protector, his guardian........his hero.
My nephew was on life support and there was no telling what the outcome was going to be. At the very best we could hope for him to come round, however life would be that of a vegetative state, at the worst he wouldn't make it through the next 24hrs.
My nephews’ life fell into the hands of God, and with every prayer coming from the nurses, family, friends both near and far we had to believe the best.
After weeks of being on life support the decision had to be made to see if he could breathe for himself. The machine was turned off, he tried so very hard but he just couldn't do it, his little body was to weak to make it in his own. After two weeks the decision was to try one more time- this little champ was not going down without a fight, after a tricky start all our prayers were answered.
In true fighting spirit he fought and fought with every shallow breath he took. Minutes turns into hours, hours into days and turned into weeks and weeks into months.
My nephew was fighting to make his mark in the world.
He is going to be 4 this year and we feel very blessed to have him. Although his life today is not that of a "normal" child, he has life changing conditions that won't ever see him grow and develop and be the boy he's was destined to be.
The conditions of his survival are extensive.
He lives with cerebral palsy which is a collection of disorders caused by abnormal brain development OR damage to the brain from early birth or early childhood. In his case due to the shaking being so brutal, his brain connections became disconnected and can never reform. This leaves him serverly delayed developmentally.
Seizures/Epilepsy: His day to day life consists of medication to control his seizures and as he grows this will increase. This he will be dependent on for the rest of his life.
Completely blind: He sees nothing; his days are guided by the voices he hears of those familiar people, the whispers of the world around him and his love of music.
My connection:
Yes he's my nephew, however it's so much more than that. During this whole journey I have been blessed to have my nephew stay with me, we would wake up together, go to sleep together, cry together and laugh together. Start to reach new learning goals. It was a tough time for everyone.
However in his true style of making the world a better place, his presence was enough to keep us all going. We were fighting for his cause, for his suffering, for his rights, for his bravery, for his exsistance, for his voice one of which needed to be heard.
" Hes my hero" in all of this.
He today attends Portesbery School, this is a special school that supports his day to day individual needs, not just his, over a 100 children on a day to day basis. These children have sever specific needs.
Since he started this school he has grown from strength to strength, he's been exposed to a learning environment that excites, stimulates him in ways that we could have only dreamed. The staff work extremely hard to build relationships with the children to make them feel safe and secure, maximising the learning experience to achieve full potential of each individual.
The school has music therapy sessions that runs from term to term, the sessions support all children's learning Improving their attention and awareness. The music plays a vital part in my nephews life. He expresses his emotions through these sessions and uses the therapy to communicate. He lives for the days of his therapy session.
At home my nephew loves his headphones and selected songs chosen by him (he will let you know when he's not feeling a tune). This is his favourite past time.
This is my ask, plea.....I would like your support to raise as much money as possible to support this schools ongoing commitment to the Music therapy sessions. These sessions are not support by any government funding and are not charged to the families. Each term the average cost is around £1,512 and 3 terms in a year.
In return I am going to jump out of a plane on the 21st June 2017 over the Isle of white to raise money and further sponsors for this amazing cause- please can you join me in making a difference.
As with anything in this world
" Each one of us can make a difference, but together we can make a change”
Thank you for reading- I appreciate your time
Love Katrina x
Today's request for support has a story that sits close to my heart.
In 2013 I was an auntie to a baby boy, so beautiful, so loved. He was the 1st boy to a family of 3 girls. He entered the world a healthy & happy baby boy. The family and I were so pleased to have another boy to even out the ratio of girls to boys.
In 2013 August bank holiday weekend, our families world was shattered and my nephews life was to change forever......
My nephew was the victim of a brutal and unspeakable act of shaking baby syndrome, from someone who was meant to be his protector, his guardian........his hero.
My nephew was on life support and there was no telling what the outcome was going to be. At the very best we could hope for him to come round, however life would be that of a vegetative state, at the worst he wouldn't make it through the next 24hrs.
My nephews’ life fell into the hands of God, and with every prayer coming from the nurses, family, friends both near and far we had to believe the best.
After weeks of being on life support the decision had to be made to see if he could breathe for himself. The machine was turned off, he tried so very hard but he just couldn't do it, his little body was to weak to make it in his own. After two weeks the decision was to try one more time- this little champ was not going down without a fight, after a tricky start all our prayers were answered.
In true fighting spirit he fought and fought with every shallow breath he took. Minutes turns into hours, hours into days and turned into weeks and weeks into months.
My nephew was fighting to make his mark in the world.
He is going to be 4 this year and we feel very blessed to have him. Although his life today is not that of a "normal" child, he has life changing conditions that won't ever see him grow and develop and be the boy he's was destined to be.
The conditions of his survival are extensive.
He lives with cerebral palsy which is a collection of disorders caused by abnormal brain development OR damage to the brain from early birth or early childhood. In his case due to the shaking being so brutal, his brain connections became disconnected and can never reform. This leaves him serverly delayed developmentally.
Seizures/Epilepsy: His day to day life consists of medication to control his seizures and as he grows this will increase. This he will be dependent on for the rest of his life.
Completely blind: He sees nothing; his days are guided by the voices he hears of those familiar people, the whispers of the world around him and his love of music.
My connection:
Yes he's my nephew, however it's so much more than that. During this whole journey I have been blessed to have my nephew stay with me, we would wake up together, go to sleep together, cry together and laugh together. Start to reach new learning goals. It was a tough time for everyone.
However in his true style of making the world a better place, his presence was enough to keep us all going. We were fighting for his cause, for his suffering, for his rights, for his bravery, for his exsistance, for his voice one of which needed to be heard.
" Hes my hero" in all of this.
He today attends Portesbery School, this is a special school that supports his day to day individual needs, not just his, over a 100 children on a day to day basis. These children have sever specific needs.
Since he started this school he has grown from strength to strength, he's been exposed to a learning environment that excites, stimulates him in ways that we could have only dreamed. The staff work extremely hard to build relationships with the children to make them feel safe and secure, maximising the learning experience to achieve full potential of each individual.
The school has music therapy sessions that runs from term to term, the sessions support all children's learning Improving their attention and awareness. The music plays a vital part in my nephews life. He expresses his emotions through these sessions and uses the therapy to communicate. He lives for the days of his therapy session.
At home my nephew loves his headphones and selected songs chosen by him (he will let you know when he's not feeling a tune). This is his favourite past time.
This is my ask, plea.....I would like your support to raise as much money as possible to support this schools ongoing commitment to the Music therapy sessions. These sessions are not support by any government funding and are not charged to the families. Each term the average cost is around £1,512 and 3 terms in a year.
In return I am going to jump out of a plane on the 21st June 2017 over the Isle of white to raise money and further sponsors for this amazing cause- please can you join me in making a difference.
As with anything in this world
" Each one of us can make a difference, but together we can make a change”
Thank you for reading- I appreciate your time
Love Katrina x
Organizer
Katrina Omotoso
Organizer