Story
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Erin's Story
Erin is 9 years old and suffers from Severe Learning Difficulties, Global Development Delay and Low Muscle Tone. She was born naturally 37 and a half weeks, but initially seemed floppy and sleepy and her cry was very quiet. We were ecstatic at the birth of our first child and it didn’t enter our heads that there was something wrong until after 9 hours of refusing to feed she was taken away and had a feeding tube inserted into her tummy. After a couple of days prodding and poking the doctors transferred her to the Neo-Natal ward for tests. All the tests came back negative and after a couple of weeks she started to make progress taking a small amount of milk from a bottle. She spent 3 weeks in the Neo-Natal Unit but thankfully we were then allowed to take her home.
Over the next few years she spent a lot of time seeing doctors and having various tests, but to date she still doesn’t have a diagnosis. At 12 months old she was found to have a narrowing of the windpipe which caused noisy breathing and explained the quiet cry. At 5 years old Erin had re-directional surgery on her saliva glands and also her tonsils removed, she was very brave and didn’t complain at all during her recovery.
Erin is a very happy little girl. She is quite a character and loves interacting with people, her favourite things are water, feathers, balloons and Foo Foo her toy poodle. Erin has attended a local special school for 3 years and is doing really well. She needs help with all aspects of care, bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting and getting about. She finds it difficult to be understood as her communication skills are very poor but she can now put a couple of words together and tries to use some signs to help people understand her.
We were introduced to Rainbow House when Erin was 2 years old and she has attended ever since. The conductors have been brilliant and helped her to walk at 3 years old. She is 9 years old now and continues to improve and although she is still a little unsteady needing help on stairs and uneven surfaces she is much more mobile.
Rainbow House are a fantastic charity, they have supported and continue to support many other children as well as Erin. They are also a huge support to parents offering help and guidance where they can. It is an extremely worthwhile cause that we are proud to be involved with. Please help us to raise our target!!
Thank you
Richard and Cindy (Erin’s mum and dad)