Help Noah Babetti return to NAPA!

We are the Babetti family, and we are creating a fundraiser for our son Noah Babetti, a sweet five-year-old living with cerebral palsy and autism.

Back story

Noah was born prematurely at 27 weeks and his twin passed away at 40 days of life. Noah missed most of his developmental milestones, and his CP diagnosis was confirmed at 3, shortly followed by an autism diagnosis. This past April, Noah underwent a spinal surgery, SDR, with the aim of eliminating spasticity in his lower extremities. He recovered well and ever since, we started a journey of extensive therapies and endless battles with insurance over Noah’s right to receive the amount of therapy hours he needs to optimize the outcome of his surgery.

NAPA: a life-changing experience

In August, we enrolled Noah in an intensive 3-weeks therapy program at NAPA, a world-renowned pediatric therapy facility (Austin location). We were initially tempted by this place because it is one of the very few facilities offering DMI, a therapy protocol aimed at promoting neuroplasticity (opening new pathways in the brain).

We, however, discovered that all that the programs that were specifically tailored to suit Noah’s needs were outstanding and very well structured.

During his therapy bout, Noah has managed to achieve most of his goals and surpass some. From being able to keep his balance on flat surfaces exclusively, Noah has managed to step over a 4” bar and step into a 6” platform. His therapists and us also noticed major leaps in terms of balance, weight-shifting, and motor planning and execution.

He even benefited from speech and feeding therapy there. We learned many strategies to increase his engagement with his communication device and he even tried six new foods despite his severe food aversion.

Help Noah get back to NAPA!

Noah’s NAPA experience was truly priceless, but we had to pay it out of pocket because his insurance didn’t cover it. It cost us around $13 thousand in expenses for NAPA ($9,200), lodging, and food. We were advised to take him there ideally three times yearly to maintain the momentum of his progress, and we are asking for your generous help to make that happen.

We are exploring all the resources to improve Noah’s quality of life, and that entails additional expenses distributed between weekly OT, PT, speech/feeding sessions, ABA services, vitamins, and supplements.

Noah was in fact seen by a functional doctor who is trying to address the underlying reasons behind an aggravation in his autism-related behaviors, including increased aggressiveness, severe food pickiness and aversion, severe constipation, and very dysregulated sleep.

As a one-income family, we are struggling to navigate life and finances with Noah’s double disability, especially since he doesn’t have Medicaid and SSI, but a Marketplace plan that is not getting us far.

We appreciate your heartfelt support throughout our journey.