An insight to my life with Cerebral Palsy

Here are some treatments that have helped me have a better quality of life: Physiotherapy Physio has been a big part of my life, ever since I was diagnosed with CP at 11 months. It has helped me do many things that my parents were told I would never do, from walking unaided, crawling, running, riding a bike and so much more. Although it hasn’t been very helpful in recent months, it was a big help when I was younger. A tip for parents, is to keep this going for life, even if you need to go private.  Occupational therapy  This has helped me use my hands a little better, although fine motor skills are still incredibly difficult. I continue to have OT sessions 3 times a week. I still don’t have a lot of independence in terms of my hands, so I will probably continue this for quite a few more years.  Serial Casting and Botox injections  I have had Serial casting done about 9 times, along side Botox injections for toe walking. It was quite a suc...

I’m a proud Auntie Today at 6:48 AM, my beautiful Nephew Logan was born after a 12 hour labour.  He weighs 10lbs 3oz and is perfect in every way. When my sister rang me this morning to tell me the news, I cried out of happiness. Birth is so beautiful and amazing. I am very proud of my big sis, being pregnant and giving birth is not easy. I can’t wait to see him later  on today, to give him a cuddle and give my sister her presents. Becoming a auntie means so much to me, I’ve waited such a long time to have a little person in my life. I can’t wait to buy him presents this Christmas and ones to come, along with Birthdays.  I can’t wait to share so many special moments with him. The birth of baby Logan has made me want a child of my own, so much more. I’m sure it will be possible, no matter what my mobility turns out like.  I am going to speak to my doctor, to see is my body is in a fit enough state to give birth. And if it’s not, I would love to ...

Up until recently my mobility has been pretty good. I was able to walk quite well, just on tiptoe. Even though I have always tired quite quickly when walking, I’ve always refused to use my wheelchair, unless I’ve been in pain. This is because I didn’t  want to loose my strength, my independent walking and I found wheelchairs ugly and unattractive ( I still do ). Over the past 9 months, I’ve found my mobility suffer quite a lot  to the point where I can’t walk any distance really without being in agonising pain. I’m falling every 15 to 20 steps and this is continuing to decrease. Just 2 weeks ago, I could do around 50 steps. Stairs are now almost impossible. I have always been very strict about doing all of my stretches and exercises, but my legs have just become so tight. I don’t understand why this is because I’ve always read that Cerebral Palsy is non progressive. I’m now using a wheelchair constantly, when I’m not at home. As I just have a manual wheelchair ...

Here are a few ways to improve fine motor skills through play  Lego bricks is a really good way to help with grasp and finger dexterity. All children enjoy playing with Lego. Get them to build a tower and then take take it apart again. By taking it apart again they have to use strength. If the regular bricks are too difficult, try Lego Duplo.  For children over the age of 5 and who are slightly more advanced, Hama beads is good.  Ask them to make pattern or a picture. This will help develop grasp. The nice thing about these are that when they are finished, you can iron it and save their design. This activity is definitely more fiddly and may get a bit frustrating. It will also help with holding a pen correctly, as your child will have to use their pincer grip. Another activity is play dough, most kids enjoy this. It will help develop their hand strength. You can get them to roll some of the dough out into a ball and squeeze. Just generally playing with ...

Painting my   own nails Due to my Cerebral Palsy, my hands are very weak and I don’t have a lot of grip. This makes grasping small objects very difficult and this often affects my independence. I have never been able to write, as pens and pencils just slip out of my hands, I can’t hold earrings, I can’t squeeze toothpaste out of the tube, zip my own zip ( the list is endless ) .  I always like to try things at least once before asking for help, even if I know I can’t usually do them because I believe  if I try enough times, I may eventually be able to do it one day. I’ve been like that since I was just 9 years old. And I have found it work sometimes. So today my Mum asked if I wanted my nails painting. I said yes, but I wanted to have a try doing them myself first. The first challenge was unscrewing the top, this took a few minutes, but i managed.  Although I found it tiring and slightly painful.  My Mum did help me cut and file my nails, ...

Birth and diagnosis story I was born on 1st December 1998, my birth didn’t quite go  as planned. I was due on 6th January 1999. My mum’s waters had broke at 2:20 am and she was rushed to hospital. They gave her an injection to try and stop me from coming, but it had failed to work and my Mum started contracting at 4:10. After just 3.5 hours I was born, but didn’t cry. I weighed 5lbs 4oz. I was struggling to breathe, so I was taken straight to an incubator and hooked to a breathing machine and feeding tube. My parents weren’t allowed to hold me until I was 2 weeks old, all they could do until then was hold my hand through a hole in the incubator. When I was around 6 weeks old ( pretty much my due date ) I was finally breathing  and feeding independently and aloud to come home for the first time.   Around a week before I went home, doctors decided to do a scan on my brain because I was a premature baby and it revealed I had suffered a brain bleed. They war...

Hi my name is Chloe Gillmere and I’m 20.  I have Cerebral Palsy and would love to raise awareness and hope. Life can be full of challenges and negativity, but it can also be full of fun, achievements and success. I will be posting daily blogs, so keep a look out. I would love it if you could share this.