Our beautiful son Gabe was born with Congenital CMV. We had no idea anything was wrong until Gabe didn't make the same physical milestones that other babies did . Such as rolling over, sitting up etc.

At just over a year old we found out that Gabe had caught the CMV virus while in the womb at around 20 weeks old and an MRI revealed that his brain had been damaged by it . As a result of this infection Gabe has cerebral palsy & development delay. He cannot walk at 4 yrs old and has hemiplegia affecting his left side.

Gabe is our shining star who brings so much joy to us and his amazing big brother Ned. He loves singing, shapes, the alphapbet and numbers - counting to 10 at the top of his voice! We want Gabe to be given the chance to overcome his difficulties and be able to walk and access the world just as other children can.

In order to reach our goal of Gabe walking independently Gabe needs ongoing physical and occupational therapy. We are fund-raising to pay for intensive therapy in this country but also for him to receive therapy in the US. They offer some groundbreaking treatment for children with CP in America - in particular at the Napa centre in Boston .

The benefits of this therapy can be unbelievable and some children have even moved on from using a walker to using walking sticks at the end of the 3 weeks. This kind of treatment in these early years of childhood will be crucial to Gabe fulfilling his potential.

We were lucky enough to raise the funds for Gabe to attend the centre in July and by the end of the 3 weeks he stood up by himself and took 3 steps independently ! This gave us so much hope for him walking by himself one day. We know he can do it he just needs the therapy and time to do it. We want to go back out to the centre next year before Gabe starts school to give him another big boost to his physical strength.

Please help us get Gabe walking !

https://cmvaction.org.uk

https://www.napacenter.org/our-programs/intensive-therapy/