Members Stories
Bridget
Our Journey with Bridget
Bridget at age 10 had been diagnosed with a chromosomal anomaly which resulted in global delays and, as it is a very rare condition, many unknowns.
Then we were sent on our way – to do what? The deep grief that a diagnosis like this makes you feel so alone.
Slowly I picked myself up and looked – looked at everything – miracle cures, every kind of therapy, remedial lessons – everything. And everything is outside of the public health system (which offers an annual check-up) so the expense and time required to support your child is potentially enormous.
We Found HOPE…
I found BICT on Google at 2.00 a.m. late in 2017 on a particularly hopeless and sleepless night.
That night I was googling neuroplasticity – sure that there must be something – and there is! In Greerton, 10 minutes away from our home is BICT.
I read about the neuro-developmental therapies they support with growing excitement, tears streaming down my face, I had found something that I knew would work. I couldn’t wait until daylight – I phoned and left a message on the answer phone there and then. And cried again when the lovely secretary called back later.
Our Journey with the Brain Injured Children Trust
The Brain Injured Childrens Trust gave us hope – hope that Bridget’s diagnosis wasn’t the end of the conversation – that there are ways to make a difference. And since we met the BICT, they have walked alongside us on the journey supporting us with the tools, the means to be able to do the therapy and a place to belong. BICT has changed all of our lives. I honestly don’t know where we would be without them.
Bridget did Ian Hunter’s neuro-development programme for about five years. And it was hard work, especially as she was older and had her own ideas about things. We did whatever it took to get the exercises done, and Ian and BICT walked right alongside us every step of the way. I read stories while she cross-crawled, we played music, we paid her to do the exercises at one point, at every appointment Ian praised her and offered a choice of rewards, eventually we found someone wonderful to do the programme with her as it was too difficult with me working with her.
The best way I can describe what the programme did was that it organised her brain for learning, the repetition of exercises laid neural pathways that had not been there before. Bridget has now gone back to school after being homeschooled for four years, she can now manage learning in a supported environment and she has made friends. Remember when your child was the only one in the class who didn’t get a party invitation? Now even that has changed. She is more confident and more able physically, the exercises also addressed her low muscle tone, especially in her core. We still see Ian, and he still gives Bridget strategies and ways to do things. BICT is a forever friend to us. Life has changed for Bridget and for us forever. Ian’s programme has set her up to be the best she can be for the rest of her life.
