Bowdrie’s Story
Bowdrie was born with congential hydrocephalus, thought to be caused by a stroke in utero. Shunted at 6 days old, and 4 brain surgeries to date since, Bowdrie has been diagnosed with right sided hemiplegia cerebral palsy and recently autism spectrum disorder.
Many parents spend their first weeks and months adjusting to having a newborn, I researched neuro plasticity and reached out to parent after parent that had walked this road ahead of us. I spent a lot of time advocating for services like physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Bowdrie has been followed by his developmental paediatrician and his team of therapists since he was 3 months old.
Living rural and remote, our access to services are limited. Being more proactive parents, we were always on the hunt for intensive therapies and in order to give Bow the best start to life in these early years. We travel for almost all of our therapies a minimum of 5 hours. The progress he has made has been worth every minute spent in the vehicle.
We were told the story I’m sure most parents navigating this journey have been told -our son would likely not crawl, walk or even talk. I truly believe because we have invested in a combination of home therapy and intensive therapy programs & advocating for more, is why Bow has made the gains he has in his 3 short years. Bow is starting to use his right hand to assist with bi-manual activities and is able to complete daily tasks independently. He’s mastering stairs and is fiercely independent. He is determined little boy and because of his will, combined with dedicated therapy programs Bow is not only walking, but running through every day.