Emily

Emily is a lively 5-year-old child with all the energy of any other child her age. The difference between her and them is that Emily was born at 28 weeks, weighing a mere 1lb 10oz. There wasn't a single doctor who expected Emily to survive her quick entrance into the world, but she proved them all wrong. At just 4 weeks old she developed a hydrocephalus, which resulted in Emily having a major operation to have a VP Shunt fitted to drain fluid from her head to her stomach. Whilst on holiday in the first year of her life the shunt blocked and Emily was rushed into surgery to have it replaced. This can occur at any time. The shunt will have to be replaced in the near future, due to growth.

Within the first year of Emily's life she underwent a series of both major and minor operations to reconstruct the bowel and surrounding area. Shortly after her 1st birthday she was diagnosed as having Cerebral Palsy, the extent of which was unknown at that time. It has since been discovered that the disability would affect Emily's legs and it was unlikely she would be able to move unaided, stand or walk. Again Emily proved the doctors wrong - she is able to crawl and can stand up by holding onto objects.

Emily has now been selected, via vigorous testing and strict criteria, to attend the Peto Institute due to her impressive determination.

The Peto Institute

The Peto Institute was founded in Budapest, Hungary, where they offer the chance of conductive education to children with Cerebral Palsy. A large percentage of these children become independent by the end of it.

Peto has a building on London's Caledonian Road, where Emily attended an introduction to the course. This took 5 mornings and cost £35 per day. Her parents were shown how to enable Emily to stand and balance by manipulating her joints into place. The treatment is very rigorous and can be uncomfortable, even painful for the children at times. In spite of this, Emily loved it, and loves even more that she can now stand unaided.

The Cost

Emily has been given the opportunity to attend much more demanding sessions lasting two weeks, which costs £80 a day. She would then be expected to attend a very intense course of treatment every month at Caledonian Road for a year, resulting in a cost of around £9,600, not including travelling expenses. There is also the possibility that Emily will have to travel to the Peto Institute in Budapest to complete her treatment, the cost of which is unknown at this time.

Unfortunately, the costs can not be covered by the NHS, and her parents can obviously not afford the full cost. This is why we are in the process of holding Fundraising events, and is the reason this website was created. Please give what you can, everything is greatly appreciated. If you work for a company and can get free items we can use in raffles, they would also be a great help. Please email Sam if you can do this.

Thank you for reading this.