Our Story

The beginning…..

When Emma was 15 months old something went horribly wrong - we lost her. 

By 18 months old we recieved a pretty devastating diagnosis: Epilepsy, Global Developmental Delay (later diagnosed as severe intellectual disability), Severe Non-verbal Autism and the icing on the cake: she could no longer hear and was moderately deaf. 

I left numerous hospital and specialist appointments in tears because I was always told what was 'wrong' with my child but no doctor knew how to fix it.

But, I knew my daughter was not beyond hope. 

We covered her in prayer and asked God to help us find the answers.

I work as a therapist and my specialization was (is) disability and early intervention and this knowledge gave me a good foundation. I put together the best allied health team I could which included a speech therapist, occupational therapist and physio.

And then I read and I read and I read….books, ebooks, textbooks, medical journals, blogs…..I spent many late nights in a desperate search for answers. 

Doctors said she may never walk or talk but I was determined! 

Searching for answers…..

I decided to take Emma to see an integrative doctor which is a medical doctor with additional training in nutrition and environmental medicine.  

We discovered that Emma’s body was full of heavy metals and toxic chemicals including mercury, cadmium & aluminium: damaging her brain. 

She had gut issues (leaky gut, chronic constipation) and a compromised immune system.

We started supportive supplements to help her body detox and put her on a gluten / casein free diet to reduce inflammation. We saw changes immediately. She was more alert. Her frequent ear infections ceased along with the nasal congestion and she had noticeably less seizures. We knew we were on the right track.

But, even with the weekly hours of therapy, diet and nutritional supplements I still felt there was a missing piece in the puzzle.

One day I literally stumbled across the amazing book “What to do with your brain injured child?” by Glenn Doman which introduced me to the concept of neuroplasticity. 

I learnt that brains are plastic – not fixed. This means they can change, grow and develop with the right stimulation.  My child didn’t have to be limited by her disability – she had unlimited potential. What hope!

Another piece in the puzzle…

I took the plunge and applied for the neurodevelopmental home based program from NACD Australia. This program is based on the science of neuroplasticity and involves specifically targeted exercises designed to literally put the pieces of Emma’s brain back together.

It's been 2 years of this intensive program that takes a few hours a day of me engaging instensively with Emma. We are seeing small changes. But, maybe those small changes will become big changes - that's what I hope. 

We need hope like we need air. 

And so our story continues…...