Happy 20th Anniversary Craighalbert :))

Today was the official 20th Anniversay Family Fun Day celebrating 20years of the Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments - Craighalbert Centre

There just aren't enough superlatives in the world to describe how wonderful this place is and what it means to us as a family.

After a very difficult birth, Alan was officially diagnosed as having cerebral palsy at 4 months old. We already knew this but until that point, no professional had actually used the words cerebral palsy to describe Alan?s difficulties, so there was still a little spark of hope that some miracle would rewind the clock, and make things how they should have been. But of course, life?s not like that.

When Alan was 7 months old, we discovered that the Craighalbert Centre was virtually on our doorstep and hastily arranged a visit. Thank God we did because that day changed the course of all our lives, forever.

I won?t bore you all with the detail of our early struggles with medical professionals, but suffice to say, whilst we were over the moon that our gorgeous little boy had survived his very bumpy entry into the world, the vibe from the medical profession was less than positive. Everyone seemed so negative and focussed on all the things that Alan wouldn?t be able to do.

Appointments were filled with long faces and big sighs (firstly from the professionals then transferred to us by the end of the meeting!) and talk of limitations, disabilities, medical interventions, therapies, not getting our hopes up, difficult times ahead....etc etc. The implicit message filtering through to us was that having a child with a disability was the worst thing that could possibly happen and how awful life was going to be from here on in. Well for what it's worth, it's not and it isn't but it is very difficult not to let such an attitude rub off on you, after all, they?re the ones with experience. This was all new to us!

Despite D & I being glass half full types, when we visited the Centre for the first time and saw the children?s bikes at the main entrance, I remember turning to Lj, (The Director of the Centre at that point and who was giving us the guided tour) and saying ?I think we might be wasting your time, Alan will never be able to ride a bike.?

I will never forget her response....she smiled at me reassuringly, then turned her gaze to Alan, who was in my arms, put her hand out to him and as he grabbed her finger in his chubby little fist, she looked me right in the eye and in her tinkling Swedish accent asked "who are you to assume such limitations on this new little person? He may need some help to ride a bike, but he WILL ride a bike."

Her question stunned me. Who was I to assume such limitations? Why, his mother of course! And doesn?t Mother knows best? After all, if there was something I was clear on it was Alan's limitations. I had a cast of thousands queuing up to tell me all about them!

Then the meaning of her question hit me like a bucket of iced water....who WAS I to assume this? If I, Alan?s own mother didn?t believe in him and in his potential, then who would? The penny dropped and within seconds I was telling myself HOW DARE YOU MAKE SUCH ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT YOUR LITTLE BOY! AT THE VERY LEAST HE DESERVES THE CHANCE TO TRY!

So, not only did this place give our boy the best possible start in life, it gave us HOPE and from that hope came the strength to fight the statutory services for all the things we believed our boy needed. And believe me, you have to fight for everything, from the most basic of wheelchairs to an hour of speech and language therapy. I could write a book!

But back to the Craighalbert Centre....today was about celebrations and celebrate we did. It was SO fantastic to see lots of old faces and catch up with the lives of the now teenagers that we knew as pre-schoolers. Each and every one of them an inspiration. Staff and volunteers worked so hard to make the day a great success and it was fab! I know how much the families appreciated it.

I had lots of blips to choose from but couldn't resist the poor TA Soldier getting a soggy sponge in the moosh. He was a star! (As were the fire crew and police who brought their shiny red engine and squad car to let us play with! :))

And so the Craighalbert Centre continues to help children reach their fullest potential and of course, gives hope to their parents.

HERE?S TO THE NEXT 20 YEARS! xxxxxxxxxxxx

(Oh and yes, Alan did ride a bike! :))))