Harry in the sea on his 1st holiday last summer.

 Harry, is three years old. He is a happy, bright and loving little boy, who touches everyones lives greatly. He is very much loved by all our family and friends, and gets on very well at his preschool.

 Harry was diagnosed with Spastic Diplegia, Cerebral Palsy(CP) when he was two. The CP affects his legs, causing spasticity-meaning he has very tight leg muscles, walks on his toes-causing him to trip over very easily and frequently, he has constant pain and discomfort in his legs, and he cannot run or jump. He needs daily physio at home, and needs leg splints to give a more intense stretch to his leg. These things are not working well enough to keep him at a suitable level of comfort, he is getting tighter as time goes on, and he is being affected more and more by this. He had serial casting(casts on both legs to give a constant stretch to the bottom of the legs and feet), which was supposed to last for three weeks, but after three days they had to be cut off due to Harry being in so much pain, he couldn't even stand. Harry has been so badly affected by the ordeal he was put through at the hospital, that he will not be able to have this done again. We were also offered Botox injections, but feel that this was not the ideal route for Harry. Harry now has a shortened calf muscle in his left leg, so he will also need surgery to correct this soon.

 We then started to look into Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy(SDR) more deeply, and decided that this was the only option for Harry, as a suitable candidate, for a longterm effective outcome. As Harry isnt severely affected by CP, we have been told that we could expect him to have great results after surgery. These improvements include-
Harry's walking posture will be close to normal, standing posture will be normal, will be able to play recreational games and sports with his friends(such as football), his pain/dicomfort will subside and his level of comfort wil improve significantly, and the muscle tone in his legs will be perminantly normal. Harry has been scheduled to have the operation on Tuesday 28th September, this year.

 Harry never lets things get him down, or complains. We just want to do all that is humanly possible, to give him all he deserves in life and make sure his future is the best it can be.