Today at my sons school, the students were asked to bring gold coins to make a money trail.
The money raised by the money trail is for a lovely little boy to get treatment in America for his spinal injury.
His name is Evander. He is a little cutie. His big sister attends my sons school.
I would like to share some information about Evander's journey as said by his parents:
"Evander in Roman mythology means "good man" or "strong man", little did we
know before Evander was born what a strong man (boy) he would need to be!
From the moment he was born Evander was fighting a potentially deadly
childhood cancer. He fought through 6 months of chemotherapy and overcame that
battle.
His next fight has proven to be even more daunting for us all with Evander
now facing the prognosis of T4 paraplegia, due to spinal cord compression caused
by the tumour.
...But, sharing the name of a world champion boxer, he seems to have been
blessed with a fighting temperament and hopes to defy the expectations of
paediatric spinal cord injury.
Evander, was diagnosed when he was 1 day old with a
neuroblastoma tumour. The tumour is located in his chest cavity and was
initially compressing his spinal cord from T2-T10. Due to the size and location
of the tumour it was impossible to operate and so Evander completed 6 months of
chemotherapy to fight the tumour.
Evander is now 17 months old, and thankfully, chemotherapy has removed the
tumour’s compression on his spine, but the MRI shows the spinal cord practically
discontinued from T4 to T7. The doctors believe that Evander will be paraplegic
based on what they have seen. Whether this is complete or incomplete we are yet
to determine.
Evander cannot move his legs spontaneously, but does have some reflexes and
responds to external stimulation. He can prop himself in a sitting position but
cannot crawl, walk or load bear on his legs.
Evander as a child with a spinal cord injury (which is very rare) does not
qualify for early intervention funding from the government which children under
6 years who have cerebral palsy receive for their rehabiliation and development
in these first critical years of life".
Evander at school today
The Evander Conroy Foundation is currently raising money for Evander and his mother to travel to The Frazier Rehabilitation Institute at the University of Louisville, Kentucky to commence intensive Locomotor Training at the Reeve NeuroRecovery Network.
By learning on-site about Locomotor technique from the world experts in paediatric rehabilitation, it is intended the program can be brought back here to Australia to help Evander and other children with spinal cord injury.
Sending best wishes to this lovely family xo
