Birmingham youngster surprised with new wheelchair

May 31, 2011

Birmingham youngster surprised with new wheelchair

Birmingham Mail | May 30, 2011 | By Christina Savvas

A DISABLED youngster was stunned when she was given a new wheelchair by a volunteer she had gone to surprise with a thank you for his work.

Libby Smalley, who has the muscle-wasting condition spinal muscular atrophy, presented a gift to Alexander Patrick to mark the 25th anniversary of his grant-giving fund the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign’s welfare trust .

The 11-year-old, from Castle Vale, handed over a collage of thank-you letters from some of the thousands of children and adults helped by the fund.

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Apple iPad Helps Give Voice To Those Who Can’t Speak

April 5, 2011

Apple iPad Helps Give Voice To Those Who Can’t Speak

FOX 8 (Cleveland) | April 5, 2011 | By Debra Alfarone

When you think of Apple’s top-selling “it” product, the iPad, you probably think of long lines for the product at Apple stores, and maybe even the wealthy techno-yuppies that carry it around, but the iPad is also being used in a more altruistic manner to speak for those who can’t.

Speech therapists at Lincoln Community School in Bayonne, New Jersey have been using an iPad complete with Prologuo2go software (http://www.proloquo2go.com) to teach autistic children, many of whom don’t speak, to communicate.

Speech therapist Carmella Barbieri works closely with the children, “It’s great, so he can express a sentence to his teacher or to his peers and can communicate with others through devices like this.”

The device can spell out commands and requests and speak them aloud, such as “I need apple juice'” or “I need to go to the bathroom.”

Principal Dennis Degnan says the iPad has been a huge success, “It’s automatic feedback and it makes them feel good about themselves.”

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Mya’s brave walk for friend

March 24, 2011

Mya’s brave walk for friend

The Border Mail | March 24, 2011

A FRIENDSHIP forged through hardship is the driving force behind a seven-year-old cerebral palsy sufferer’s plan to walk Dean Street.

Albury’s Mya Irving is hoping people will sponsor the eight-block walk next month in a bid to raise the $35,000 needed to modify a car to take an electric wheelchair for her friend Rajah Sutherland, 5.

Rajah suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that weakens the spine and muscles and forces her to rely on a wheelchair.

The pair met through a disability support service and hydrotherapy.

Without the modified car her Jindera mother Ellen Sutherland is largely housebound.

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Malvern Blooms 2011 Will Benefit Sweet Baby Zane, Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

March 24, 2011

Malvern Blooms 2011 Will Benefit Sweet Baby Zane, Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

MalvernPatch | March 24, 2011 | By Pete Kennedy

A portion of proceeds from this year’s Malvern Blooms Festival will be donated to Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, who will use the money to purchase car seats for children with the disease.

The donation will be facilitated by Sweet Baby Zane, a Malvern-based group founded in memory of Zane Schmid, who succumbed to type I SMA at just five months old. Her twin sister, Avery, does not carry the SMA gene.

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Cheeky Charlie Bolton less than £4,000 away from life changing wheelchair

March 9, 2011

Cheeky Charlie Bolton less than £4,000 away from life changing wheelchair

News Shopper | March 9, 2011 | By Michael Purton

THE parents of a 17-month-old disabled boy are less than £4,000 away from raising enough money to buy him a powered wheelchair.

Charlie Bolton, of Haydens Close, Orpington, has spinal muscular atrophy type two, and cannot crawl, kneel, stand, walk or sit up from a lying position.

His parents Aimee Spiers and Edward Bolton are trying to raise £18,000 to buy him an electric wheelchair, which is currently not available on the NHS.

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Boy has group to thank for ‘souped-up’ wheelchair

February 16, 2011

Boy has group to thank for ‘souped-up’ wheelchair

The Shawnee Dispatch | February 16, 2011 | By Stephen Montemayor

It’s just after 6:30 Thursday morning and Sam Rice rides his wheelchair into a Merriam Krispy Kreme shop. With an entourage at least seven deep, the Benninghoven third grader is met with much celebrity.

He’s handed a heart-shaped doughnut on the house. He’d call it his favorite part of the morning, but his expression when chatting with a Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader suggested otherwise.

Joined by his parents, three brothers, a friend and his friend’s sister, Sam is up earlier than most of his classmates to celebrate Young Variety Kansas City’s one-year anniversary as part of its “Reverse Happy Hour.” Months earlier, the charity organization raised enough money to cover $30,000 in additions to his wheelchair that insurance wouldn’t cover.

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Posted by stronwi

Electric wheelchair appeal for 16-month-old disabled Orpington boy

February 10, 2011

Electric wheelchair appeal for 16-month-old disabled Orpington boy

News Shopper | February 10, 2011 | By Michael Purton

THE parents of a 16 month old disabled boy are appealing for donations for a powered wheelchair so he can move around independently.

Charlie Bolton from Orpington was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type two at 12 months old, and the condition has left him unable to crawl, kneel, stand, walk or sit up from a lying position.

His parents Aimee Spiers and Edward Bolton want him to have an electric wheelchair, but have been told by the NHS one is not likely to be available until he is five years old.

So they have started a campaign to raise the £18,000 needed for the wheelchair, which they say will allow him to “interact and socialise with his peers and have some independence”.

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

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Family turns grief into a gift for toddler

January 28, 2011

Family turns grief into a gift for toddler

Global | January 28, 2011 | By Linda Hoang

Click HERE for the video.

When Kaitlyn Harapchuk was three months old, she was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a disease that affects muscle movement.

Doctors told Kaitlyn’s mother Hali that she probably wouldn’t live to be a year old. But Hali wouldn’t accept it.

“There’s always miracles,” she said.

Hali found special doctors and support groups that could help her daughter live well past the one year benchmark she had originally been given.

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

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Lions help Tait sleep tight

January 20, 2011

Lions help Tait sleep tight

The Northern Rivers Echo | January 21, 2011 | By Mel Carrero

The Jenkins family will finally be able to rest easy after Lions donated a bed worth $15,500 to them on Monday.

Tait Jenkins, a 14-year old boy from Modanville, suffers from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and has no function of his muscles from the neck down and requires to be turned each hour during sleep, leaving his parents Fiona and Royce incredibly tired and Tait very dependent on their help.

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Six-year-old remains active despite Spinal Muscular Atrophy diagnosis

December 20, 2010

Six-year-old remains active despite Spinal Muscular Atrophy diagnosis

Quad-Cities Online | December 18, 2010 | By Laura Anderson

Ella Christopher sat at her kitchen table, scribbling a crayon back and forth on a coloring book page.

“This is what we do every day after school,” said her mother, Amy Christopher.

Things are a little better now for the Eldridge family, but they aren’t easy. Ella, 6, was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, type 2, when she was 14-months-old.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy is a progressive, neuro-muscular disease that causes progressive weakness, Ms. Christopher said. “She basically atrophies.”

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