Club Cares provide Damien Patella with a Hart Walker

After reading about Club Cares, Karen Harper a TIC member from Victoria contacted her friend Wendy Patella and suggested that she sends details of Damien's situation to us to see if there was anything we could do.

Damien Patella, a three-year-old boy, was diagnosed with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy at seven months.
Wendy Patella, Damien’s mother, secured him a place in an early-intervention program. This has enabled Damien to start sitting unaided and saying a few words, all things Wendy was told he would not achieve.

To continue his progress Damien, required a special Hart Walker to assist him in learning to stand and walk, however, at a cost of $12,000 this was out of Wendy’s reach. Club Cares was able to provide the walker for Damien and also provided five years of servicing and adjustment so it will grow with him. Damien is now enjoying being able to stand and play at the level with the other children.

Here is a letter we received from Wendy...
 

"Firstly, I would like to thank all the generous people who made Damien’s walker possible. It has certainly opened up a new facet to his life.

Damien has spent a fair amount of time in his new walker. He will randomly take steps whilst I am encouraging him to walk. Windermere Biala our Early Intervention Support Service equipped me with a rolly chair, as pictured, so I can move Damien’s legs for him. He has the strength and the determination, but, due to the parts of his brain that are damaged, his balance and co-ordination are greatly affected. So my job is to program in the rhythm of walking into his brain by allowing his body to experience the rhythm of walking. How long this will take, we don’t know, but, I will persist for as long as it takes.

When in the walker, Damien will often stand up and fix his eyes to a part of the room, then shift his weight through his feet and from one leg to the other, this is great, he is getting a feel for “his position in space”. He is still getting used to having the freedom to stand without having so much support around his body. He also, makes us laugh, as he will look down at his feet and move them, so he now understands that those feet are his and he has control of them, which is also another great achievement.

His favourite things to do in the walker are playing catch with a large ball and dancing. We count 1-2-3 on 3 he raises his arms and we place the ball in his hands and he gives us a big smile, we say “ta” and he drops the ball to continue with the game. With the dancing we hold his hands and sing a “dance” song, and he moves his head quite enthusiastically from side to side with a huge smile on his face. He loves the freedom, safety and security he gets from the walker. He enjoys standing outside when my daughter and I are gardening and also standing with me in the kitchen.

We need to remember that Damien doesn’t turn 3 years old until 9th April, so he is still very young to be walking. Also, with his degree of global brain damage, classified as moderate to severe resulting in a global learning delay greatly affects the rate at which he develops. When Damien was fitted for the walker I read a number of articles posted on their notice board and many of the children were 4-5 years and older. So Damien is very, very fortunate to be starting from such a young age, but, it does mean we need to have more patience with him.

For about 6 weeks Damien didn’t use the walker, because each time I tried to put him in it, he had a tantrum. It would seem during that time he was developing other skills and seemed to only be able to focus on that.

I did a 6 week brushing program with him which entailed him being brushed 8-10 times per day over his body during his waking hours. This was to reduce his sensitivity and calm him. It did work to a degree, but, will be repeated after we meet the new Occupational Therapist at the new Special Development School that Damien will start attending on Feb 15th.

They are very keen on Damien using the walker at school and have had and still have a number of other children with the same walker. This is fantastic news for us. The next 2 years I believe will have a profound impact on Damien’s development due to him being able to access a Physiotherapist, OT, Speech Therapist, Psychologist and specialist teachers for 2 days a week. This is all a precursor to school.

To this day, I believe the walker has helped Damien in his overall development. Particularly in becoming aware of his own body and how it feels and what it can do. Damien is currently really enjoying the walker and is responding well to the time I have him in it, so I expect to see some more improvements in the next few months.

Kind regards
Wendy Patella"

Since the purchase of Damien's Walker he has out grown his heavy and unpractical stroller.  Club Cares donated funds towards the purchase of a new stroller which can be adjusted to accommodation him as he grow.  It is also easier to push, lighter, reclines and more maneuverable, easy to fold down and his Mum says it doesn't look like a 'special needs' stroller.