Hope for Henry

Emma Jasper is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Jodie Pollard.

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Your support goes towards the medical expenses, therapies, and specialist equipment needed to help Henry thrive!

Meet Henry! Now 22 months old, our super strong little warrior Henry unfortunately had a very tough start to life in which he sustained a severe brain injury leading to a diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. He spent his first 5 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit where it was initially unclear whether he would leave hospital.

Henry is a little fighter! The amount of trauma Henry has had to put up with is unimaginable, in such a short period of time he has gone through so much, but he continues to smile through it, although Henry did not learn to smile until he was 3 months old!

Henry has been diagnosed with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy, thought to be the most severe form of CP which affects all 4 limbs, the trunk and oral muscles. As well as other functions such as sight and hearing. This makes reaching all milestones very difficult, often very delayed or not met at all, and makes talking/eating difficult to coordinate and sometimes not achievable. Henry struggles with head control, he can not sit independently yet, arm and leg movements are uncoordinated, he makes some noises only and he does not feed orally, he is fed via a gastric tube which he has needed multiple operations to insert and correct.

His development is slow, but he is improving and we do celebrate all his little wins. He has a lovely cheeky smile, he absolutely adores fireman sam and shouts at the TV when it's on, he loves playing with his toys which are adapted to connect a large single button he can hit to activate the toy, he loves his bathtime and singalong time with Mummy and he loves his swimming, he loves to fall asleep in busy places like cafes, he loves to practice walking with Daddy but does need full support with this, he walks to his bath everynight! He enjoys being nosy in his pram outdoor on walks, and he likes to stroke his pet dogs Reggie and Rosie. He loves his story time and baby massage, he loves incy wincy spider and Head Shoulder Knees & Toes where Daddy tickles him at the end & he loves bubbles.

He has low tone through his neck and trunk meaning he finds practicing head control / sitting extremely tiring and difficult. He also has dystonia meaning signals to his muscles involuntarily vary in intensity so he finds it difficult to maintain a still position. He has higher tone in his limbs meaning they are very stiff and he finds it difficult to relax out of these positions and gets very tight muscles - which is also very tiring for him.

One thing muscle tone affects is digestion. This has contributed to extremely troubling reflux for Henry meaning he could vomit his feeds up to 15x per day and each time so distressing and tiring. This would happen at any time including multiple times throughout the night. He has struggled to put on weight as a result.

His vision is significantly affected and struggles to focus on things, he does look adorable in his glasses!

Henry’s Health Currently:

It is the best it has ever been, but still a way to go. His most recent surgery for his tummy tube seems to have helped make him tolerate feeds better, his reflux and tone medications seem to be helping more so. This means he is more often the Henry we know he can be, more positive with more energy, he is putting on weight finally and will hopefully continue progressing with his physiotherapy!

Financially, Jodie, who worked as a dental therapist, has been unable to return to work in 2 years. James is a physiotherapist and has had to cut his hours down to give Jodie help at home and provide more therapy time for Henry. We have spent thousands of pounds on his care so far including trips to see specialists mainly in London and Leeds, purchase specialist seating, purchase specialist toys, different dietary requirements, and private therapies. As he is starting to get a bit bigger, the costs of things are definitely adding up. We are thankful there are many great charities to help but they cannot offer support or funding for everything and everyone.

Our goals for Henry's Fundraiser:

We want to purchase the following pieces of equipment for Henry, which total over £2000: Leckey Upsee; a walking aid which can facilitate gradual weight-bearing, standing and walking with the assistance of an adult. Red light therapy; aims to increase the blood flow to the brain and reduce chronic inflammation following a brain injury. It can stimulate repair and growth of new neurons, better mood and sleep. Hypervibe vibration plate; proven to help with muscle spasticity, increase muscle strength and function in individuals with cerebral palsy. We have been declined funding help from 2 charities for this.
We want to give Henry every opportunity to progress and meet his milestones by giving him more access to private care which can be very expensive but very worth it. Henry sees a specialist paediatric neurological physiotherapist once per week at a cost of £80 which we would like to increase.
Speech and Language provision (SALT) in the NHS is limited so we would like to provide Henry with private SALT to help Henry improve his oral skills to improve his communication and feeding orally. This can be £100-200 per session which he may need a few times per month.
With help from a local charity we have recently purchased a specialist seat for him to relax in more as others are not overly comfortable for him as he is strapped in heavily, this chair was £890.
We spend a lot of money on petrol travelling to frequent appointments often outside of our local area.
Hydrotherapy sessions would be so beneficial for Henry however there aren't many options near us. One day we'd love to give Henry his very own.
We would love to try an Intensive therapy course - they often last a week or 2 some are held in London and some abroad, offering multiple therapy specialities in one place - these can be very expensive, often thousands of pounds but have been shown in research to be very helpful.
Most top specialists are based in London - each trip costs an average of £300-400 for travel and accommodation.
Toys for children with additional needs are expensive e.g. some switch adapted toys and mirrored carousel, are over £100

⁠As a family, becoming medical parents has been extremely tough. We have been overwhelmed with love, well wishes, and offers of support for Henry; it’s amazing to know how well-loved he is and how much everyone is rooting for him. Any love, support, or donations you can provide for Henry would be greatly appreciated beyond words, as we know our boy has amazing potential, and we will do everything we can as parents to help him reach it.