Halles Heroes

General information

Our daughter Halle was born prematurely at 30+1 week’s gestation on the 28th April 2012. After a relatively normal pregnancy, this obviously came as a complete shock. Halle was born at a weight of 3lb 9oz and spent the first 6 weeks of her life on the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Scunthorpe General Hospital. Throughout the next two years of Halle blessing this world, it became clear that she was not developing at the same rate as other children. On Halle’s 20 week scan we was told that she was going to suffer with unilateral Talipes on her right foot (most commonly known as Clubfoot). This obviously had an effect on her development, but it wasn’t until after her 2nd birthday that she had an MRI and the true nature of the problem was diagnosed. In July 2014 Halle was diagnosed with periventricular leukomalacia, (PVL) a form of brain damage that affects the white matter of the brain, Halle was also diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

Since we received Halle’s diagnosis, the help that we have received has been incredible, the Early Years Inclusion Team, The Physiotherapy, Speech and language therapy and occupational therapy have all been involved in the progression of Halle’s development. Thanks to all of these specialist input and help, Halle is now a confident and vibrant little girl that loves playing with other children and only ever wants to join in. she has also made great improvements with her speech and understanding, and now communicates with us on a very basic level. Just over a year ago, Halle was given her first Rollator and with lots of our support took her first steps. Halle’s new Rollator provides more opportunity to progress, however she is still unable to stand or walk without support. Halle still requires one to one support on her Rollator as she is still learning how to use it independently. We are so incredibly grateful for all of the help we have received, but after lots of research we are now aware that us as parents could be doing so much more to provide for our daughters development and making her challenges a little easier. The NHS have provided us with the basic equipment and therapy that we require, but there is so much more additional equipment and sessions out there that is not funded by the NHS and would maximise our daughters potential.

Halle has recently started school nursery, and we have now realised that she won’t be our baby forever. She is now our little girl that is starting her educational journey, which is something we cannot be there for all the time. The school nursery have been so accommodating to Halle’s needs and requirements, but there is so much she finds a challenge because of her mobility difficulties. There is nothing more heart-breaking then knowing your child wants to join in, but physically cant without difficultly and assistance’s from a Carer. We chose to send Halle to a school nursery in preparation to going to full time school when she is 4, however because of her difficulties and the lack of control on her Rollator, Halle would benefit so much from additional sessions of therapy and activities that promote development that are just not funded by NHS. All we want is for our daughter to have the most normal life possible and be able to join in with the other children.