“Most people don’t know that a baby can have a stroke.”
To raise awareness as part of National Stroke Week 8-14 August 2022 Caris shares daughter Adalynn’s journey with SensesWA Physiotherapist Jeremy.
Adalynn is a happy 8 year old girl who lives with her parents and four siblings in the regional town of Spencers Brook in Northam. When Adalynn suffered a stroke as a newborn but wasn’t diagnosed until around 10 months old, this stroke led to cerebral palsy affecting movements on her left side. Adalynn has been working with Physiotherapist Jeremy on different exercises (or as he calls them fun therapeutic games) to improve movement on her left side.
“Jeremy has improved our lives immensely. He has been with us for so long and travels from Perth consistently to provide services. He really cares about Adalynn and everything she does, not just therapy for the week but her whole person, her confidence levels, her friendships, her family, her interests, her mood and incorporates these into each session. He makes all of his sessions fun and she is always happy when it’s a ‘Jeremy’ day.
Having ADHD Adalynn struggles to stay focused, but Jeremy is always prepared with a wide variety of entertaining activities to keep her interested. His engagement with Adalynn is just next level. He even involves her siblings, including them in therapy time as they never want to be left out of his fun!
Adalynn is a very determined little girl and has set herself some great goals. She joined soccer and loved it because she didn’t have to use her hands. She is now learning the piano which is a challenge for her fine motor skills but is using one finger on her left hand. Her next goal is to learn how to play tennis.
We are so lucky to have such an amazing therapist working with us, and I really appreciate everything he does for our family he has made therapy fun!
As part of National Stroke Week I’d like to raise awareness and let people know that stroke can happen at any age from in utero and babies. Around 600 Australian children have a stroke each year. We had never heard of it before, but we could see little signs along the way which I wished I’d pushed harder at the time for a medical diagnosis. Things like not making eye contact, not smiling, or sitting up the key milestones in a child’s development. Adalynn couldn’t crawl and showed a hand preference, which babies don’t usually do until 2 years old. Early intervention and early therapy are so important when it comes to stroke. I advise every parent to go with their instinct and get a second opinion if needed.” Caris
Thank you Caris and Adalynn for sharing your journey.
