Help Twins w/ Cerebral Palsy Walk
Donation protected
Hello Friends,
I'm reaching out to you, because two young boys - Boji and Marti need our help to start walking.
Those twin boys are very close to my heart and part of our extended family in Bulgaria.
They are long-awaited children. The twins were born preterm in the 32nd gestational week. They spent about 40 days in the NICU and were discharged with healthy weights. Currently the boys are 3.5 yeas old.
Over time, the parents noticed that they did not show signs of normal development for their age and visited few specialists, who recommended rehabilitation.
At 18 months, they were diagnosed with Children's Cerebral Paralysis (Cerebral Palsy or CP). For those of you who are not familiar, Cerebral Palsy is thought to be caused by a brain injury or problem that happens before or during a baby's birth, or during the first 3-to-5 years of a child's life. The most common type is spastic CP (it is what the twins have also). The injury is in an area of the brain called the motor cortex. Because of that, their muscles are tight and stiff, kids with spastic cerebral palsy do not move smoothly if move at all. Their movements may seem jerky. Often, the muscles do not do what the child wants them to.
For over two years, 10 days of each month they travel to specialized rehabilitation centers in Sofia and Kotel. During the rest of each month the parents were trained for at home special physical activities to help Boji and Marti improve. Thanks to the rehabilitation the children started to sit up, crawl, stand up and recently move with special walkers.
After extensive research we found out about the Children's Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Park and his surgery on the spine called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy gives chances for walking to many children with Cerebral Palsy. This is the only hospital in USA that performs such a surgery on small kids and has extremely high success rate.
After hearing about Dr. Park’s successful surgery the parents decided to act. We submitted the necessary documents and after 6 weeks they received the answer of HOPE, that their children were great candidates for the procedure.
Thanks to this surgery Dr. Park gives them hope to eliminate the muscle spasm.
In Bulgaria, such an operation is not performed. In Turkey and Germany there are few clinics but the success rate is mediocre.
Dr. Park's opinion after Martin's surgery is that he will be self walking in any environment. For Bojidar - he is going to use a crutch in any environment and maybe self walk in a protected environment. Bojidar will need an additional orthopedic surgery.
All documents received from the Children's Hospital in St. Louis are attached here along with the twins' pictures.
The amount for the surgeries for both kids is enormous and unbearable for the family. The amount for the surgeries of both children is close to $100K. Additional they have to stay 3-4 weeks for rehabilitation and physical therapy which is not included in the amount above. Also they have to cover their travel expenses, hotel, food and other daily expenses.
The parents have huge fundraising campaign in Bulgaria. They are doing everything possible to reach out to more people. The link for the donation website in Bulgaria is:
https://helpkarma.com/campaign/pomosht-za-boji-i-marti-191/dashboard/preview
The donations from GoFundMe will be transferred directly to the above link with your donations. In case they do not collect the full amount for the surgeries the money will be given to other kids in need.
Please, help Bodji and Marti in their journeys to walk.
Thank you with all my heart.
Teo
I'm reaching out to you, because two young boys - Boji and Marti need our help to start walking.
Those twin boys are very close to my heart and part of our extended family in Bulgaria.
They are long-awaited children. The twins were born preterm in the 32nd gestational week. They spent about 40 days in the NICU and were discharged with healthy weights. Currently the boys are 3.5 yeas old.
Over time, the parents noticed that they did not show signs of normal development for their age and visited few specialists, who recommended rehabilitation.
At 18 months, they were diagnosed with Children's Cerebral Paralysis (Cerebral Palsy or CP). For those of you who are not familiar, Cerebral Palsy is thought to be caused by a brain injury or problem that happens before or during a baby's birth, or during the first 3-to-5 years of a child's life. The most common type is spastic CP (it is what the twins have also). The injury is in an area of the brain called the motor cortex. Because of that, their muscles are tight and stiff, kids with spastic cerebral palsy do not move smoothly if move at all. Their movements may seem jerky. Often, the muscles do not do what the child wants them to.
For over two years, 10 days of each month they travel to specialized rehabilitation centers in Sofia and Kotel. During the rest of each month the parents were trained for at home special physical activities to help Boji and Marti improve. Thanks to the rehabilitation the children started to sit up, crawl, stand up and recently move with special walkers.
After extensive research we found out about the Children's Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Park and his surgery on the spine called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy gives chances for walking to many children with Cerebral Palsy. This is the only hospital in USA that performs such a surgery on small kids and has extremely high success rate.
After hearing about Dr. Park’s successful surgery the parents decided to act. We submitted the necessary documents and after 6 weeks they received the answer of HOPE, that their children were great candidates for the procedure.
Thanks to this surgery Dr. Park gives them hope to eliminate the muscle spasm.
In Bulgaria, such an operation is not performed. In Turkey and Germany there are few clinics but the success rate is mediocre.
Dr. Park's opinion after Martin's surgery is that he will be self walking in any environment. For Bojidar - he is going to use a crutch in any environment and maybe self walk in a protected environment. Bojidar will need an additional orthopedic surgery.
All documents received from the Children's Hospital in St. Louis are attached here along with the twins' pictures.
The amount for the surgeries for both kids is enormous and unbearable for the family. The amount for the surgeries of both children is close to $100K. Additional they have to stay 3-4 weeks for rehabilitation and physical therapy which is not included in the amount above. Also they have to cover their travel expenses, hotel, food and other daily expenses.
The parents have huge fundraising campaign in Bulgaria. They are doing everything possible to reach out to more people. The link for the donation website in Bulgaria is:
https://helpkarma.com/campaign/pomosht-za-boji-i-marti-191/dashboard/preview
The donations from GoFundMe will be transferred directly to the above link with your donations. In case they do not collect the full amount for the surgeries the money will be given to other kids in need.
Please, help Bodji and Marti in their journeys to walk.
Thank you with all my heart.
Teo
Organizer
Teodora Kolaksazova
Organizer
Linwood, NJ