A much longed for baby, Gabriella sadly asphyxiated during birth. Instead of being greeted by our cuddles, she was placed in a medical coma and 'cooled' for 72 hours, spending the first five and a half weeks of her life in intensive care.

This has resulted in a diagnosis of quadraplegic, dystonic Cerebral Palsy. This means our daughter is unable to stand, walk or crawl independently, is fully tube fed and non-verbal. However, this diagnosis does not define her. She is a curious, sparky, determined girl who is clear on what she wants and does everything she can to achieve it- with a smile and laugh that lights up the world.

NHS funded support is extremely limited and since birth we have fundraised and used all our personal savings to support her to access more comprehensive private therapy- both weekly and via intensive programmes. These have made the world of difference to her- enabling her to learn to sit independently, strengthening her core control, improving hand eye coordination and supporting her to access an Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device (aka her 'talking computer') so she can navigate the world and express her views to us. Without this private, specialist input we are confident she would not be achieving as much as she is.

Our goal for this campaign is to be able to keep raising the funds for her to access the world renowned NAPA Institute for annual intensive programmes as well as access regular specialist support such as hydrotherapy, speech and language, physical therapy, DMI and hippotherapy.

Gabriella is a delightful and determined girl who tries so hard in all she does. We would appreciate any support to help her thrive and grab all that life has to offer.

Thank you.

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