Teddy's 5 day Intensive

Teddy is obsessed with mobile phones, says mum. He also loves his soft Foxie toy, playing with fairy lights, grabbing mummy’s coffee cup, and reaching up to grab the ribbons hanging over his play mat. But all that aside, this adorable cheeky little boy has had a very turbulent start in life.

Teddy was diagnosed with enlarged ventricles at a routine 34-week scan, then born at 36 weeks following mums’ admission to hospital with cardiac issues.

An MRI shortly after Teddy’s birth identified a significant brain malformation that had probably occurred in very early gestation, and his subsequent diagnosis with cerebral palsy at about 10 months old. As you can imagine, this was huge for the family to process, particularly given that there had been no issues at all during the pregnancy.

There are lots and lots of unknowns and what ifs about Teddy’s future, but we work very hard every day to concentrate on the bright and cheeky little boy who is in front of us, and not on what his medical notes say, or on expectations of what he may or may not achieve.”

Teddy’s family found CPotential following another family on Instagram whose little boy had attended for intensive CIMT (Constraint Induced Movement Therapy) – an activity-based intervention for children with Hemiplegia.

Being based in Ireland with little intensive therapy readily available, the family swiftly got in contact, and Issy was the lucky therapist to work with Teddy and the family.

Teddy worked so hard over 5 days of intensive physiotherapy with Issy, working on his rolling and sitting which he is not yet able to do due to his low tone. He responded really well and tolerated 5 days in a row, mostly with good humour.

And that hard work paid off, whilst Teddy is still working on a full roll, his ability to now roll from back to almost front in both directions is much improved, which is particularly great for mum and dad to see when he is playing in his cot or on the floor and can manage to reach and play with his own toys in both directions.

We were really grateful to be able to take Teddy for an intensive therapy week which is not really available in Ireland. Issy was so encouraging of him and could read him very well and understand when he needed short breaks. “It was great to see that he would tolerate two hours of therapy in a single session and just keep working away at it.”

Great work Teddy and Issy.

Since coming to CPotential, Teddy’s dad, Richard took on the London Marathon challenge for the charity and raised even more funds to help other children like Teddy. Mum also arranged for a corporate donation via her workplace. Thank you so much, we are forever grateful!