MOTHER, BRAVE SON ROLL AS A TEAM
Damian’s challenges inspire books, play and a blog
An Eastern Cape blogger and adventurer is the living embodiment of a mother’s love knowing no bounds.
Confronted by a medical riddle that left her healthy baby boy wheelchairbound and severely disabled a few years ago, Deirdre Gower seized life by the horns and chose to fill her son’s existence with joy instead of self-pity.
This zest for life culminated in a book and blog,
among other creative outlets, called Warrior on Wheels.
Full-time mom, writer, student and dreamer Gower, 34, originally from East London, has enchanted the blogosphere with the daily adventures she enthusiastically takes on with her 15-year-old son, Damian.
Now based in Cape Town, Gower this week spoke about the endless adventures she and her son have embarked on and the motivation behind both her book and blog.
Gower, a Hudson Park High School matriculant, said: “Damian was born a healthy baby. At one stage he was crawling. But things went wrong after he received a routine vaccination.”
Numerous tests later and years down the line, the blogger is none the wiser about what condition or disease rendered her beloved Damian disabled.
Gower, who had Damian when she was 19, said she lived in Port Elizabeth for about three years before she moved to the Mother City, where she has been based since 2010.
“I moved to PE because I wanted a school that would cater for Damian’s needs,” she said.
Driven by a desire to give her son a special gift for his 13th birthday, the single mom penned War
rior on Wheels, a poignant account of her son’s daily challenges. Gower illustrated the book herself and self-published.
“I was determined to do everything right for the book, and Amazon makes it easy for anyone to self-publish,” said Gower who is also studying towards her BA.
The Chaeli Campaign, a non-profit organisation that works with children who have disabilities, picked up on the book and turned it into a theatre production, which was staged at the Masque Theatre in Muizenberg.
Gower began blogging because she wanted to share experiences with other families facing similar challenges.
Last year mother and son participated in the Cape Argus Cycle Tour together, something for which Gower had to fight.
Damian uses a motorised wheelchair. He also uses an iPad with speech software to communicate.
“He’s aware and understands his environment, but has speech difficulty, she says.