Thank you for visiting Rico's fundraising page.

We are trying to raise funds to pay for life-changing therapies and treatments to work around the damage to Rico's brain that he suffered during the late stages of pregnancy.

Rico was born full term in August 2023 after a normal pregnancy. I noticed reduced kicking one day and remembering the message of the amazing charity KicksCount to always get yourself checked if worried, I went in and upon doing just that, the hospital confirmed he was suffering from lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain. I was completely alone, rushed into theatre, put to sleep, and Rico was born via an extremely fast emergency c-section.

To this day the cause is unknown. Rico was born not breathing and needed 6 minutes of resuscitation. Following a devastating brain scan we were told to bring our family in and say goodbye as the damage was too severe and Rico was not expected to survive. The life support was turned off.

However Rico soon started breathing, feeding and moving independently. We brought him home after 3 weeks where we were told to “wait and see” what happens with his development. The NHS's approach is to let problems happen and then treat them as and when they arise. However brain research has proven that early intervention is crucial in the early months and years of life and neuroplasticity (the brains ability to rewire itself and work around the existing damage creating new neural connections) has the most potential in the first couple of years. But it has to happen early and one of the most efficient ways is via physiotherapy and other alternative therapies.

The NHS has given us basic assessments and therapies but there is so much more out there to help Rico and his brain development. For the first year we funded both alternative therapies and essential treatments ourselves (specialist physiotherapy, cranial osteopathy, ABM therapy, chiropractor sessions and ophthalmology and ENT assessments) but the funds are now running out. So we are planning to raise funds however we can to pay for more physiotherapy and help Rico's brain to rewire itself. He isn't yet rolling or crawling but has come so far already and seems to fight every hurdle presented to him.

Rico has already been diagnosed with epilepsy, evolving motor disorder, global development delay and cortical vision impairment. All we want to do is give him the best chance possible to learn and improve and reach his potential. His seizures are under control, his vision and hearing seem to be developing, and he is 100% orally fed and being weaned onto solids slowly. There are so many positives! We hope there will be more.

Thank you so much for reading. Rico is so loved at home by Mummy, Daddy and big brother Rafa and we appreciate the support so far from all our family, friends and loved ones.

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