This Christmas Will Be A Happy One!
The Coombes family is now enjoying the festive season again, following a shock diagnosis four years ago
Christmas 2013 was a horrible one for us,” remembers Jenny Coombes. “My son Harry, then five years old, had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the beginning of that December.
“It wasn’t a very pleasant experience. When the consultant at the children’s hospital informed my husband Stephen and me, it was just sort of, ‘Harry has spastic diplegia cerebral palsy. You must have fallen over when you were pregnant. There is nothing more that I can do. Goodbye.’
“We were in and out of the meeting within five minutes, left not knowing anything about the condition and with me feeling as though I had broken my baby. I couldn’t remember falling over or anything else that severe during my pregnancy – if something like that had happened, I would have got myself checked out.
“We looked up cerebral palsy online but the more I read, the more scared I became. After I had had a little cry to myself for a few days I contacted the helpline at Scope, the charity that helps disabled people and their families, and that same day a lady called Jackie got in touch. She explained about Harry’s condition, what it was, what it meant for him growing up and also how it could have happened – the probability was that I didn’t fall over after all, so that put my mind at rest a bit. Jackie was really helpful and I was so relieved that there was someone who could help us.
“But that Christmas was a horrible time for the family. It was really hard. We were still in shock and had already been and bought all of Harry’s Christmas presents. We’d bought a high sleeper bed that he couldn’t climb in and out of properly and toys that, with his diagnosis, just weren’t suitable. We had to explain to my eldest daughter Ellesse, then eight, what was wrong with her little brother and why I was so upset. We also had to explain things to Harry, who would then tell people there was something wrong with his brain, that’s why his legs didn’t work.
“With three-year-old Poppy it was just a question of trying to calm her down.
Scope was wonderful. I was so relieved there was someone who could help us
We had to try and explain to her that she couldn’t be as energetic and rough with Harry, and that he couldn’t run around and do as much as she wanted him to do.
“Harry is nine now. Four years on we are still finding our way and working hard to get the support we need for him at home and at school. We wouldn’t have got through those first few months without Scope because we had no clue at all about what we were facing.
“The advice they gave us was invaluable and Jackie has helped us in so many ways since then, including helping his school teachers to understand his diagnosis and helping me apply for support such as the Disability Living Allowance. We could never repay Scope for how they have helped us.
“Christmas is much easier for the family now. We understand everything much better and we can plan ahead. We now know what Harry can cope with and we can avoid some of the sorts of presents we would previously have bought for him because he can’t enjoy them properly.
“For example, although his hands aren’t massively affected by the condition in the way his legs are, he does still have some restrictions. So as much as he would love to build a massive StarWars spaceship, he can’t handle the small pieces in the kit.
“It took us a couple of years to adjust to not simply buying what other parents were buying because Harry wanted them, and to explain to him that he can’t have certain things. Roller skates, for example – he still wants things like that although he knows he wouldn’t be able to use them. But now we can see him using the things we have bought him and enjoying them. Harry is a lot happier when he wakes up on Christmas morning and finds gifts that he can use or play with and enjoy. And that is rewarding for us as well, so we can all have a happier Christmas, too!” www.myweekly.co.uk