I Love The 80s & 90s Party,

Leela Senior

Stanley was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 8 months old; since then the number one thing that has made a difference to Stanley is hydrotherapy. For the rest of the day he is like a different child both physically and emotionally. In the water he feels free, relaxed and empowered. He is able to perform physical actions he never has on land. The thought is that repeating these movements may in fact help him replicate them out of the water (Stanley has never even taken a step).

Aside from the therapy aspect of hydrotherapy, it also plays a big part in prevention of potential surgery, deformity and pain as he gets older. The warm water is proven to reduce the spasticity of his limbs. Currently his hips are 30% out of their sockets - a direct result of the high tone in his legs pulling in the wrong direction.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, NHS funding for therapy is scarce and so allocation of sessions to Stanley are few and far between. Therefore his family are looking to utilise their garage and turn it into 'Stanley's Hydro House' - consisting of a small therapy pool, changing bed, hoist, toilet, shower and basin. The highly insulated room will become a haven for daily therapy for Stanley. In addition to this, other disabled children who are in local mainstream schools will be welcome to use it as well as, unfortunately, they miss out on the quantity physiotherapy they would have if they were in a specialist school.