JAS Salsa Party

Want to say a big, big thank you to Daddy's colleague Zu, his partner Julie-Ann and friend Gary for organising and hosting a salsa party in aid of Sophia.

These guys put a massive amount of time and effort into this event, which they hosted in Peterborough. By all accounts, it was a great night with many people turning up. They had guest dancers and held a raffle with loads of prizes generously donated. In total they raised over £350.

A special thanks should go to Zu though, he's been a great support throughout our fundraising, always offering help and asking how we're doing. Thanks mate, it's very much appreciated

Dr T S Park

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Sophia finally got to meet the great doctor yesterday....and we weren't disappointed !!!
The quiet confidence of him and his team was very reassuring and relieved any worries we had.

We initally met the lovely Deanna, the SDR Co-ordinator, who answered all of our questions and did a quick assessment. She seemed to really like Sophia, describing her as spunky !!!

Then it was time to see the doctor. Sophia was a bit tired by this point and didn't want to do anything for him, but a couple of barbie stickers later and she was like putty in his hands !! So, he assessed her ankle flexion., the range of movement from neutral, upwards. Most of us have about 15 degrees of movement from neutral,  Sophia's right ankle has about 5 and very little in the left because of the spasticity in her muscles. Once the spasticity is removed by surgery, he predicts she should get up to full flexion, with physio. This is massive, it basically means that she should have a good heel strike in both feet when walking and running, and will stand, balanced on flat feet. He doesn't always give a prediction on how long patients will take to walk unaided, or reach there predicted targets, but, seemed confident that Sophia would be walking within a year !! Again, this is a huge, huge prediction for us and better than we could have ever had hoped for. Nothing is guaranteed but it is a great target for us to aim for.

So, all in all,  it was great day for Sophia and underlined that this is definitely the right thing for her.

Day off today, before pre-op video assessment tomorrow, but plans to go to the zoo have been washed out by a thunderstorm.  The Magic House it is then !!

Finally here !!!!!

So after 20 long hours of travelling, we've made it to St Louis.

Sophia has been amazing, she really is a great flyer. Finally, gave in to sleep at Dallas airport but hardly a winge out of her the whole way here !!

Already, we've met so many kind people, from the, predominently glaswegian BA crew who pushed us through passport control at Dallas, to the kind lady from St Louis, who insisted on taking our details so she could phone up after Thursday, to see how it all went.It has already been an adventure !!

First hospital appointment tomorrow, so, bed now in prep for a big day !!

Having a problem uploading photos. Will sort it out tomorrow

St Louis Children's Hospital

So, on Sunday we fly out to St Louis for the next chapter in Sophia's adventure. We will finally get to meet the very famous Dr T S Park, who pioneered SDR surgery back in the '80's and has now carried it out over 2500 times. We have read so much about him and SDR. Can't quite believe that our dream is about to become reality.
There was a great six-part documentary about the hospital recently. I'd recommend watching all of it, but in particular, episodes 4 and 6 are partly about SDR and the aftercare. Check them out below.

www.youtube.com/user/thefrontlineforhope

The hospital is rated #2 in America for Paediatric Neurosurgery, which is very reassuring and a big factor in our original decision. But, more importantly, the feedback from families who have been over there is overwhelmingly positive. From the professionalism and friendliness of all the staff, the overall service and the little things they do to make children feel more comfortable. The clown docs, do "rounds" daily and the window cleaners, below, apparently don't need ladders !!

£65'000 - You've Done It !!!!!!!

Wow !!!!! Thank you so, so much to everyone x x x

Back in April, we decided to embark on the biggest challenge of our lives and attempt to give Sophia the best, possible, chance of walking unaided. We had no idea how long it would take to raise our target, or if it would even be possible, but we had to try. Never in our wildest dreams, did we expect that five very short months later we would have smashed through our target and be on our way to St Louis. But, in less than a week, that's exactly where we are going !!

Raising £65'000 is a massively daunting target but we are so, so lucky to have an amazing family and fantastic friends, not forgetting lots of  very generous strangers who have made this almost impossible task, a reality. Fundraising has taken place all over the world with challenges and events in England, Scotland, Hong Kong , Australia and Afghanistan.

It is so difficult to actually express how much this has all meant to us, there just doesn't seem to be enough words. Everybody's kindness, support and generosity has been completely overwhelming, you are all truly amazing people. There hasn't been a day when we haven't been shown how wonderful and caring everyone around us is. We are so lucky to have so many people behind us that want our little girl's dream to come true.

 Please keep checking the website and facebook page. We will keep you all posted with Sophia's progress in St Louis and back in the UK.

So, once again, from the bottom of our hearts... Thank You. You have taken a little girl one step closer to her dream to walk x x x

A Touch Of Tartan - MK II

Another Touch Of Tartan Ceilidh will be taking place this Saturday 05th October, this time in Hong Kong !!!

Sophia's Auntie Paula and Uncle Tim have been a massive support throughout our fundraising campaign and wanted to plan their own event on the other side of the world.

 

Over 170 tickets have been bought, so far, for the night at AIA Central. There will be fine Scottish cuisine, an auction with some amazing prizes donated by some very generous friends and, of course, Scottish country dancing, with Ian Carmichael playing and calling the steps.

Have a great night everyone, we wish we could be there to join you and thank you for all your support x x x

Lemonade & Cupcakes On The Hong Kong Peak

What a fabulous effort from Riley & Tess Dougan in Hong Kong who organised a lemonade & cupcake stall on Hong Kong Peak..especially for Sophia!

Assisted by Sophia's big cousins, Luca & Finn and friends Eva & Olivia Lloyd they offered"refreshments" to parched locals & tourists and raised £140 in 90 minutes until the heavens opened in a BIG WAY and they had to race back out to check their wet money boxes.




What an amazing effort especially all that cake baking by Tess (age 9). Thank you so much, you are all fundraising stars xxx