Caleb's Mum Shirley shares their story... As parents we all have hope and dreams for our children, but some times those dreams are taken away from us, and there is nothing we can do to stop it. I had to have a operation to be able to fall pregnant with Caleb and when I found out I was pregnant, my god, I was so excited! When we told his older sister and brother (from a previous marriage Ashleigh is now 17 and Matt now 15) they where so excited. They would talk about taking there baby brother or sister to the pool or just for a walk, but that all changed two days after he was born. Caleb suffered a massive bleed to the brain which resulted in his Cerebral Palsy and epilepsy Caleb's first year of his life was spent mostly in hospital. He has gone through 7 operations on his brain which has been tough on everyone, god knows what its been like for wee Caleb. It is so hard watching your child go through all these operations. You feel so helpless. Then I started researching on the net and found a clinic in San Diego that treats children who have Cerebral Palsy (and other medical problems) with Donor Stem Cell therapy. Well you could imagine my delight. So I emailed them and they said to send Caleb's medical records over and they would review them and let me know if he was a suitable candidate for the treatment. I had to wait 4 weeks - they where the longest 4 weeks of my life. I still remember the morning I opened my email and there was the answer I had been waiting for. I was a bit nervous to open it, but I did and it was the best day of my life they said that he could have the treatment, they gave us the cost, so I got started with the fundraising. I didn't realise how hard it would be to raise the money, but we did it. It's now 8 weeks since his treatment and we are now seeing results. He has started clapping his hands, and he now smiles (oh its so worth every cent). He has even started laughing, and when I look in his eyes I see someone behind them, I know he is listening and taking notice of what I'm saying. His seizures have also reduced from around 50 a day to about 8 a day so that's a huge improvement. With the results we have had so far, we are planning on taking Caleb back in June for more treatment. I believe what we are doing is right and all I want to do is give Caleb the chance to live life to his fullest. I don't want to get 10 years down the track and say god we should have tried stem cell treatment. People say to me its better to have false hope than none at all... well I have enough hope for every mum in NZ that Caleb will end up having a better life. We aren't looking for a miracle cure just hoping that Caleb will be able to have a better quality of life and also that we as a family can look forward to a life with him also. Thank you for taking the time to find out more about Caleb - we are so grateful for the support we receive from others who believe in hope.
