**~~Blair’s Wish~~**

BLAIR IS 3 TODAY…HOORAY! To celebrate Blair’s 3rd Birthday, BLAIR’S WISH have 4 tickets to DOROTHY THE DINOSAUR’S ROCKIN’ CHRISTMAS SHOW, Sat 10th December 2011 at 10:30am at Castle Hill RSL thanks to The Wiggles Management! Winning is simple….. share the BLAIR’S WISH FB PAGE with as many friends as you can, get them to ‘like’ our page and don’t forget to get them to leave the comment stating who sent them!

Can we get to over 500 likers? The person whose name appears most WINS. Competition closes 8pm FRIDAY 18th NOVEMBER, 2011.

If you would like to know more about Blair’s Wish check out the information below.

VISION…

To raise funds for the lifetime equipment needs for Blair Sawer, who has Cerebral Palsy, and in doing so also create a loan pool of equipment for other children with Cerebral Palsy. We hope to offer support to other families affected by Cerebral Palsy and increase awareness of the condition.

ABOUT BLAIR & BLAIR’S WISH…

Blair Sawer was born 9 weeks premature, delivered by emergency caesarian section at Royal North Shore Hospital, November 4th 2008, due to a ruptured uterus. Blair weighed only 1730 grams, was not breathing and required ventilation. Blair spent a total of 6 week in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Special Care Units at Royal North Shore and Gosford Hospitals. During this time he required ventilation on three occasions, was on CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure), endured daily blood tests, was fed TPN (Total Parietal Nutrition) and tube fed breast milk via NG (Naso-gastric Tube). At times doctors had great difficulty sustaining his oxygen levels, which resulted in a collapsed left lung. Through a desire to maintain some sense of normality for Blair’s two older siblings, who were 5 & 8 at the time and as the family resided on the NSW Central Coast, some 2 hours drive away, and the family was only able to visit Blair every 2-3 days. On the days when Blair’s mother, Julia, did visit him she would spend the whole 6 hours just holding her tiny son. Blair finally came home and joined his family, one week before his first Christmas.
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Being a premature baby, it had been expected that Blair would be somewhat delayed in reaching certain milestones. However, by the age of one, Blair was still unable to sit independently, had never rolled nor crawled, did not talk and when using his hands would predominately only use his left hand. Blair was seen by his paediatrician, an MRI scan of his head was requested and performed and a diagnosis of Periventricular Leukomalacia was concluded, in February 2010. This meant that it is likely that Blair had suffered a hypoxic brain injury, as a result of his traumatic birth, resulting in brain damage to 1/3 of his brain on both sides. It was therefore concluded, as result of the diagnosis that the reason for Blair’s delay in reaching his milestones wasCEREBRAL PALSY.

Blair commenced early intervention services, physiotherapy, occupational and speech therapy, not long after receiving his diagnosis, in May 2010. Throughout the rest of the year, he continued to grow into a very happy and healthy little boy, however, his fine motor skills and more so his gross motor skills remained markedly delayed. Following his 2nd birthday, he was seen by specialists at Westmead Children’s Hospital, near Sydney, where his Cerebral Palsy was finally given a grading as to its severity. Blair is a dystonic quadriplegic, GMFCS (Gross Motor Function Classification System) Level IV. (CP is graded on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least and 5 being the most disabled). For Blair, this means that he is likely to require the use of a manual or powered wheel chair to mobilise and will require a carer to look after him.

For the first two years of his life, Blair’s parents found the reality of Blair’s condition devastating. They had a conservative estimate of Blair’s equipment need costs being $100,000, for the equipment he needed NOW and will certainly outgrow. Blair has a lifetime of equipment needs. As a single income family with two other young children, the prospect of raising and adequately providing for Blair was overwhelming. Out of desperation to help her son, Blair’s mother decided to start a page on facebook called ‘Blair’s Wish’, she could never have anticipated the response that it would receive.