This is my beautiful boy, Theo. It’s very painful to have to talk about Theo’s entry into the world. His birth should have been straight forward; we should have a healthy little boy. Heartbreakingly, we don’t. Theo received catastrophic brain damage at birth after a complicated emergency caesarean section. My tiny, precious baby that I had protected for 9 months was starved of oxygen for such a long time, resuscitated twice, ventilated and then cooled for 72 hours to try and limit the damage. When we thought he couldn’t suffer any more Theo contracted pneumonia and we thought we may lose him a second time. He fought, he survived.

Theo is the bravest soul I have ever met. He has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, is registered severely visually impaired and cannot eat orally. His swallow is too unsafe.

He suffers daily. Even with more than ten medications his seizures, spasms and dystonia plague his every move, yet he still smiles. He tries so hard to lift an arm or extend a finger but this always results in an incredibly painful spasm and seizure (imagine cramp, all over your body) and when he cries out in pain I’m taken back to his birth and the horror we went through. This happens to Theo hundreds of times a day. And he still smiles.

As his mother I should be able to help Theo. I should be able to protect him, make things better. I’d love to say that a cuddle with mummy works, but it doesn’t. This is why I have started fundraising for Theo; to help him, to protect him and to make things better.

With your help, I can find the best physiotherapy for him to reduce the long term effects of spasms and to hopefully limit the amount of surgical intervention he is very likely to need in the future.

I can enrol him in regular speech and language therapy so that, although he cannot talk, he can learn how to use communication aids. 

I can make adaptations to our home so that we can comfortably and safely move Theo.

I can raise money for the best available seating so that Theo can sit for several minutes in comfort before another spasm takes over and I can buy communication tools for him now - not when he’s ten - so that I, his mum can understand the simplest of things like, is he hungry? Does he want to play or does he want his annoying mummy to stop her awful singing? He does seem to wince every time I sing ‘Let it Go!’…

Whilst we wait for the medical world to miraculously find a cure for brain damage we want to ensure Theo has a quality of life however long or short. You can help! If you’d like to donate then this is the page to do it! You can also help us fundraise or simply spread the word. Your help is what keeps us going.

Please help Theo.

Find out more about Theo and our fundraising progress at: www.facebook.com/thinkingoftheouk

Should we be lucky enough to exceed the target amount (or if we do not raise enough funds, or if they cannot be used for any other reason) anything we raise will go to the Tree of Hope to assist other sick children.