Beau is a bright bubbly 13 year old, with the most infectious smile ever. His best friend is his twin brother Seth. They spend all their time together giggling playing tractors and getting into mischief.

Beau and Seth were unexpectedly born 14 weeks premature weighing only 710g. They spent the first four months of their lives in hospital. At seven days old Beau contracted Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC). We wre told by his doctors to expect the worst, whilst they rang local hospital to ask of they would operate on him. That was the first of three life saving surgical procedures that had to be performed on his bowel.

The day when we got to take them home was magical, but as a Mum I soon suspected something wasn't right. Seth was achieving the early milestones, which Beau could not.

We were told a lot of premature babies are delayed, and he would catch up, but as the milestones gap got bigger, the community paediatrician referred us to a specialist who confirmed my then two and a half year old son had spastic diplegia cerebral palsy. He explained my son had 'dodgy legs', and his hands were also slightly affected, because his brain was sending incorrect signals to his muscles, which causes tightness/stiffness in his legs and arms. There is no cure for Cerebral Palsy which means every day is a challenge as each movement requires both mental and physical strength and nothing comes naturally.

In 2019 Beau had a life changing surgery called SDR Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy, a special technique that involves sectioning (cutting) some of the damaged sensory nerve fibres which are causing the muscle stiffness/spasticity that come from the muscles and enter the spinal cord. For the first time Beau's legs were pain free, but we knew he had a long road ahead as the SDR took away the spasticity that was controlling his body. Beau requires a lot of physio, strength training and rehabilitation.

We are eager to raise funds to cover the intensive physiotherapy programs, any equipment, and any other support Beau will require to to keep his rehabilitation going after the surgery.

So if you can help us by donating whatever you can we will be eternally grateful as it keeps Beau smiling and his brother by his side.

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, they will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives. If, in those circumstances, we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child, any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.