FRIDAY 10th FEBRUARY 2023

Please get your favourite fancy dress costumes out and help raise money to get Alfred back to America for treatment. Since our last 3 week intensive in the USA, Alfred can now stand independently for almost a minute and has gotten so much stronger in all areas. We are desperate to get him back to the NAPA centre as soon as possible to keep this progress going and give him the best chance of independence in the future. 

Alfred is 7 years old from Swadlincote, Derbyshire and suffered a brain injury at birth in 2015. He was born lifeless and took 9 minutes to resuscitate, at which point he was put on a ventilator. His brain had been starved of oxygen which caused brain damage in several areas. Just before Alfred was 1 years old he was diagnosed with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and more recently epilepsy. This means that the damage effects all parts of his body, physically. Cognitively Alfred is just like most other 7 year olds and he is doing so well at a mainstream school, learning the same curriculum as his peers (with allowances for physical boundaries). Alfred is currently totally physically dependent and require help with all areas of daily life.

Over the last 7 years Alfred has completed 11 intensive treatment blocks in the UK and 3 in the USA. The centre in the USA is called THE NAPA CENTRE and it has been truly life changing to see how much of a difference 3 weeks there can make. The centre is like nothing on offer in the UK (yet!). Alfred completed 4 hours a day of intensive therapy for 3 weeks and is so much stronger and so much closer to some BIG milestones. The treatment in the USA isn't cheap and costs over £15,000 but every penny was worth it. In June 2022 Alfred managed to get himself up off the floor into a sitting position for the first time ever. He is now working on standing independently and it's like a dream come true to watch him.

Alfred will tell us daily how much he wants to move around like most people and he has the drive and determination to do so with the right tools. He is an absolute fighter, which we saw within the first 12 hours of his birth, when he pulled his ventilator out himself and began breathing on his own. He was the first 4 year old with cerebral palsy in our local area to have a speedy powered wheelchair and able to drive it competently.

Alfred dreams of having a dog of his own one day and walking it daily, running around the playground with his friends and having a more independent life not relying on his parents. We would do anything to get him closer and closer to his dreams and keep progressing. He's come so far already and we love nothing more than when senior doctors see him as an absolute marvel. He really is a marvel and works so hard everyday.