Jo and Charlie Wright

Charlie's Story:

Everything about Charlie has been special.

We already had our first son George when we discovered the news about my pregnancy with Charlie, this was a complete shock as we had not planned another child and had been using contraception, worries soon turned to smiles and we started the excited countdown.

When I reached the 6 month mark I started getting some pain and was terrified to see I had suffered some bleeding. I rushed to the Birmingham Women's Hospital and pretty much didn't get to leave, the bleeding continued for the last part of my trimester along with the pain until my consultant made the decision to induce labour at 37 weeks.

Without going into gory details here the labour was a harrowing experience and probably one ill never forget.

Once we had met Charlie however again away went all the worries and we began to get to know our little 5lb 7oz man, he fed well and although a very restless baby was discharged home to us the next day.

For a while everything seemed to follow the same pattern of early parenthood and we bonded as a new family of four.

Charlie seemed to have a terrible first winter however with countless chest and throat infections, resulting in many stays at the Birmingham Children's Hospital and pneumonia. It was at his last stay in hospital that we first voiced our concerns regarding Charlie's development he had reached 8 months of age and was not showing any signs of being able to sit or move around the floor, having already got George we knew this didn't appear right. The consultant listened in full and said she would be round to check on things in the morning.

The next day an entourage of doctors all from different departments came and asked countless questions whilst poking and prodding around Charlie, We were then advised by the consultant they believed Charlie's under development to be: 'due to the signals in his brain being interrupted before reaching his muscles', causing what we know now as increased muscle tone (stiffness) and his tendency to appear 'floppy'. We took all this in listening intensely to the diagnosis until it came for the time where we could ask questions, almost in unison we both asked: 'So what's the cure?'

It was then we were told our first devastating blow 'There isn't one'. We went on to ask a barrage of questions all in one way or another trying to gauge what the future had in store for Charlie. What is probably the most frustrating and upsetting thing regarding Charlie's condition now fully diagnosed as 'Cerebral Palsy' is none of the answer's can be given and it is very much a waiting game.

We came home and everything that had once seemed normal faded into the background we broke the news to family and close friends and received a mixture of responses and support.

Charlie was put on a waiting list for physiotherapy and it seemed as though time stood still from here on.

One day Charlie's Gran was reading through her usual weekly magazine when she reached an article featuring Megan Baker House and conductive education. It stated how they worked with children with cerebral palsy and the children seemed to respond well.

I rang the contact number and spoke to Jo who I immediately warmed to and an assessment day was arranged.

We brought Charlie in for his assessment, which was held by Becky one of the conductors and the only time his condition was mentioned was just to make Becky aware of his history. Charlie had reached 1 and was still unable to sit, He had wobbly head control and could not move around the floor. Becky carried out his assessment and was pleased to advise us that she believed that the facilities and conductive education Megan Baker had to offer would benefit Charlie.

We discussed the travelling commitments and venturing into something new, before deciding everything was worth a try.

We have never looked back at that decision and can honestly say hand on heart Megan Baker House and all the staff have helped Charlie become the little boy he is today, Charlie has just become 2 and can sit, clap, sing, talk, commando crawl, roll, point, push, pull, feed himself, drink from an open top cup?the list seems endless.

We are forever indebted to the wonderful staff who have always regarded and referred to Charlie as 'Charlie' not his condition.

Charlie has never been prevented from attempting any activity big or small at no matter what stage of development he seemed.

He is constantly kept motivated and pushed towards the independence his mind so much craves. Megan Baker house has taught us all to follow suit and not to baby Charlie or hold him back and it is this attitude and commitment that produces the results like the one's we can see so clearly in Charlie.

I would encourage any parent in the same or similar situation to contact Megan Baker and see for themselves. Seeing is believing and I cannot thank all the staff and Jo enough for everything, they have lifted a black cloud from us, which has never returned.