ALEX by her mother
Spastic Quadriplegia
At 12 months Alex was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy with spastic quadriplegia. She had tight limbs, her back arched and went into spasm and her ankles twisted inwards. Arm movements were tight and her hands fisted and uncoordinated, held erect her feet twisted inwards. My dream was that despite this terrible diagnosis one day Alex would walk.
I dreamed Alex would walk
I visited Advance, met Linda and decided to give TST my best shot. At that time Alex had the shape of about an 8 month baby. She couldn’t sit at all at home she lay on the sofa everyday. She didn’t sleep well, her appetite was poor. Days seemed endless.
Astounded by TST progress
During the first year of TST Alex gradually began to sit. By the end of the year she was sitting straight. She could roll and began crawling I was astounded by how well her hand function was coming along. Gradually Alex began cruising along furniture, she sat without support and she could move from sitting to crawling. She had a healthy appetite and sleep was good! She began walking with a K-frame. Her effort to do this was tremendous.
Alex’s gait improved
Alex started mainstream school, with her K-frame. It was only then her physio’s and OT told me that they had thought Alex would have needed a manual wheelchair for school. So we kept striving forward. I was still doing TST for approximately 1 hour daily after school. Instead of going into the wheelchair as expected at the end of her reception year, Alex’s gait was much improved. The staff at her school all commented on how straight her legs had become.
First independent steps
On sports day, she was able to run in her frame, and shortly afterwards she took her first independent steps. Alex now walks quite effortlessly with Tripod sticks for short distances and can walk across the living room unaided. Such a great step forward when you think my daughter once found sitting without support a problem.
Better quality of life
She has gained such a better quality of life and much more freedom and independence. Which I believe could only have been possible with TST.