The fundraising post

Sometimes i think we are left to fend for ourselves with Nate. Don't get me wrong the groups and professionals we see are good but act within the remits of their time, experience, and budgets.
No one has ever suggested additional therapies, equipment, resources or things he might just " like". You don't wake up one morning with a complex PMLD and physically disabled child and have a list of... well... "stuff" that he or she might enjoy or benefit from. I feel like i need "Nate training".

 As a parent what your child enjoys doing is usually found in a "trial and error" manner. Some toys are ignored, others inevitably become grubby with love. With Nate this is tricky. At no point would it have occurred to me to pass a chain over his hand, tap it with a spoon, or do equally odd things. People this is "tac pac" http://www.tacpac.co.uk/ and Nate likes it a lot. We only found out about it through watching the nurses at St Oswald's work through a tac pac session with him. This sort of sensory session brings it home how different Nate's needs are, and that no matter how many "baby" age toys you buy, most still aren't suitable.

So you realise your child has very different needs,what do you do? Well i can only say what we did- You read, do google research, and ask for advice. You pick the brains of every professional and SN parent you can. Then, when you have time, you sit down and think about the sort of life you want to give your child. I'll be perfectly honest this didn't really cross my mind the first 2 yrs as we were too busy in and out of hospital. But Nate has been quite well lately and we want to do as much as we can for him.

Through SN parent recommendations we discovered...
tomcat trikes http://www.tomcatspecialneeds.co.uk/
and The Brainwave Centre http://www.brainwave.org.uk/
Through sensory groups we found Nate's eyesight had improved and he started to really respond to lights ( optic fibres, bubble tubes, sparklely light boxes). Thus was formed the aims of our current fund raising.

Through kind donations we had already funded a projector and light tent, a padded playmat, his p pod and his lycra DMO suit. Now on the list was therapy at brainwave, a trike allowing him fun outside on a supportive and custom built trike, and turning our dining room into a sensory room.

It is VERY clear that we have many people who care about Nate and want to help him and us.
All i can say is a huge thanks to all of you because through fund raising yourselves, taking part in events, sponsorship, or liking and sharing Nate's fund raising page you are helping to change Nate's life for the better. Nate now has enough money to fund those things above. Additional funds will be used for further therapy and equipment.

So today Team Nate have been....................................


UP HERE



ABSEILING DOWN



THE VERMONT