After five years now of privately paying for neuro-rehabilitative therapy for Michael, the reality of continuing this without fundraising is inescapable. Michael has been deemed ineligible for the government funded medical cannabis that he played a large part in the campaign for here in Irelan. Despite efforts from his medical team to prescribe this for him, this expense, I must now accept, will continue to be footed by me going forward. I have decided to start this fundraiser to help Michael access life-changing neuro-rehabilitative therapies that I alone simply cannot meet, ontop of his cannabidiol and medical ketogenic diet, which is also funded by me privately. Many of you are aware of his story, and how he came to need these interventions. A beautiful baby, almost lost so many times, but fought his way back to life.

I was a teacher before having Michael, and I was never able to resume my post again after Michael's birth. He went from being a perfect baby, to fighting for his life in December 2016, battling seizures 24 hours a day. He lost every developmental milestone he had achieved in his first few months of life, and never reached any after that.

This all changed when we started his therapy journey in September 2017. Michael was one year old. He had a feeding tube inserted, after months of seizures and horrific medications, and I was told he would never eat through his mouth again. He was given a prognosis of a very short life, a life full of suffering. This was stomach turning, spine chilling news, that I simply was not willing to accept. I began researching and seeking out the best and most powerful therapies, and therapists in the world, knowing very well after a while, that much of what he needed was outside of this country. It is not uncommon for Irish families to have to look to Europe or the US for superior medical intervention. We had no choice, it was literally do or die, so off we set.

For the five years since, Michael has received therapies and non-pharmaceutical therapeutic medicine, that have seen him go from life-threatening illness, tube fed, constant seizures day and night, unstoppable vomiting, aspiration to the lungs, pneumonia, complete physical incapacity and constant hospitalisation, to the complete reversal of all of these. Michael is tube free, almost fully seizure free, has never again suffered from intractable vomiting, chest infections, pneumonia, or lung aspiration. He never again had an acute hospital admission. He was removed from the palliative care list in the summer of 2019. He is now off almost every anticonvulsant, and will be fully pharmaceutical free by Christmas. These achievements are because of the therapies and medicines that I pursued, paid for, and continue to pay for personally. It has come at a huge financial cost, but it has literally saved his life.

As much as Michael has achieved however, he still has many milestones yet to meet. As his mother, I dream and pray for him to walk independently, to talk to me, to play, to start feeding and dressing himself, engaging with other children, engaging with me and those who love him. It IS possible for him to do all these things, he has shown his capacity to defy all odds, with the right therapies and the right practitioners working on him. However the resources I have as a carer, are ever so limited.

Michael's recent participation in a three-week intensive therapy intervention in Dublin has seen out the last of my resources, but what he achieved in those three weeks has been absolutely awesome, and worth every cent. He did three hours a day of physical, occupational and speech and language therapy. This therapy was carried out by a group of therapists who came here from the world renowned NAPA Center in the United States (https://napacenter.org/), an unmatched neurorehabilitation center for children. A number of mothers and I wrote to them two years ago, to propose a trip here, with a view to them setting up a permanent clinic in Ireland. The NAPA Center is where dreams have come true for so many children with disabilities and their parents. I have followed them for a long time, and I know parents who have travelled to the NAPA in the US with their children, and had life-changing results. I have often thought, imagine if Michael could go there. Imagine what therapists of that level of skill could get out of him. Little did I think they would respond to a plea from a group of Irish mothers, and send twelve therapists to Ireland for six weeks, to treat our children. It was everything I hoped it would be. The therapy he was privileged to engage in, was absolutely astounding. Unparalleled by anything he has ever had here in Ireland. To see physical, occupational and speech and language therapists who get serious results, so fast, and who care so much about your child gaining new skills, was absolutely incredible. These therapists are gifted at what they do. They are competent, confident, and highly highly trained and qualified - a pre-requisite for them to work at NAPA. On the first day we set goals with each therapist, and Michael came home having achieved everything we set out for him, and some things we hadn't even set as goals. This therapy is called the Intensive Model, and it does not exist in Ireland. The results are proven in the US - on average children make 6 months of gains in the 3-week block. Michael kissed me for the first time about a week in to our block. To say my heart felt like exploding would be an understatement. It was like they switched him on, and all he was capable of started to come through.

He held his own spoon to feed himself for the first time, he held his own drink for the first time. Michael also ate non-pureed food for the first time, his SLT teaching him how to bite crunchy foods. She also used the VitalStim swallowing device to improve his speed and accuracy in swallowing liquid and food. He was treated with E-Stim technology (electrical muscle stimulation) by his occupational therapist, and he is using his hands like never before. He played with a toy and pressed the button to initiate the toy for the first time, a skill he learned at their hands! He also got to use an eye gaze communication system, through which I got to see how intelligent he is, how capable he is of learning, and how much he really understands. His therapist taught him how to ask for more, say no, different, go, things I thought were still a long way down the line for him. This was extremely overwhelming for me, to get a window into his brain, and to realise the intelligence that is in there, only to be brought out.

It is an extremely emotional, physically demanding, and hugely expensive undertaking, to try to bring your child back from the brink of death, where Michael really was in 2017, to where he is actually living a life, and has a future. I won't be around forever, and I am doing everything in my power now, in his childhood, to ensure that he can learn and do as much as possible for himself, and accessing the best therapy in the world in the only way to do that.

Of course, the best therapy in the world is not cheap, nor is it overpriced, it simply reflects the results achieved. To complete 60 hours of therapy in an intensive is approximately 7,500usd. The NAPA Center have recently announced the opening of their first Europe based clinic in London, opening September 2023. I hope to travel to the new London clinic with Michael, as much as possible, to take part in more intensive blocks, to help Michael gain the skills he will need to live an independent life.

For Michael now, the goal of getting him walking independently is an absolute priority. He has gone from being unable to hold up his own head in 2017, to taking self-initiated steps with minimal support. Walking is within our reach, closer than it has ever been. To further his progress in this, he is due to trial a motorised walker in the new year, which will see him walk for the first time, with no human support. This device is called the Trexo, and is used to enable incapacitated children, to learn to walk independently (https://trexorobotics.com/).

The Trexo is a ground-breaking development in pediatric therapy, that will change Michael's life, and mine. I am no longer able to physically prop him in walking, due to his growing height and weight. The $30,000 cost of this equipment is a large part of why I started this fundraiser. As much as I have sacrificed and saved and sought out over the last number of years, nothing could see me achieve those funds in his childhood years, aside from fundraising, or winning the lotto!

This fundraiser I hope will enable me to obtain this device for Michael, and expedite his ability to walk, as his own person. These funds will also make possible several more trips to the NAPA Center, over the next two to three years, to continue his development in speech, feeding and daily life skills. This will also give me time to recover in my personal finances, so that I can have savings in place to continue his therapy, when the funds from this fundraiser are dispensed in time. Michael's cbd and ketogenic diet, as well as his weekly physical therapy, will continue to be funded through my own finances, as they have always been.

I want to thank everyone who donates here, for believing in Michael's potential, and for being a part of his success going forward.