Sam, was born prematurely at six months, and suffered a bleed in his brain which caused the hemiplegia. He was a very poorly baby and spent 12 weeks in intensive care. Now he’s in the top sets for English and Maths and is quite literally, for the first time, grasping life with both hands.
The difference Magic can make – Sam – Breathe Magic Intensive Therapy Programme
“One of our main goals was for him to be able to tie his shoelaces without help. It was a really magical moment when he did this for the first time at the camp.” His mum Jayne says. “It’s been very emotional for everyone who knows Sam — we’ve been trying to help him do all of these everyday tasks all his life, so it really is amazing to see the difference in him after just a few days of magic camp. It’s very easy to overcompensate with a disabled child but the Breathe Magic camp was the first time in Sam’s life that people really believed he was capable of getting his hand to function.”
It’s also made Jayne realise what Sam is capable of and the family have had to learn to stop automatically helping Sam do things, and ask his friends to stop doing things for him too. Before going on the camp, Sam wore a hand-splint on his affected hand to
separate the fingers. Now he doesn’t wear the brace at all, and is still surprising himself by doing new things every day, such as helping his mum put tins of food nto the supermarket trolley with his affected hand.
“We know that Sam’s hand will never be perfect, but we just can’t believe the difference it has made to him both on a practical, physical level and in terms of his self-belief. It’s been a huge turning point in his life, for which I’m very grateful.”