Keira Power was born on the 3rd February 2005. She was twelve weeks premature and we didn’t know if she’d make it through her first night. Keira proved to be much stronger than we could have hoped and she was allowed to leave the hospital and go home with us six weeks later.

As with all premature babies development is initially quite slow, so we were not surprised when she didn’t reach the averages set by full term children.

On the 18th January 2006 during a routine consultant appointment we were told that Keira had suspected spastic quadriplegia, a form of Cerebral Palsy (CP).  As the name suggests quadriplegia affects all four limbs and causes increased muscle tone (stiffness) making it harder for Keira to control her muscles and consequently making seemingly simple tasks impossible for her. 

This diagnosis was confirmed by a multidisciplinary assessment in March of that year.

Currently Keira has limited mobility, she uses a “Kaye” frame to walk with and has limited motor control of her right hand, her left hand is affected to a lesser extent.

In November 2008 we were informed by Keira’s care team that they felt she would never walk unaided and her treatment should be directed towards improving the limited quality of movement that she now possesses
In September 2009 we became aware of an operation called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) which we believe could change everything.

The operation has been carried out for over 20 years in America and the particular doctor who we've been talking to has performed this operation more than 1900 times. We've been given a prognosis of independent walking if Keira undergoes this operation.

The cost of this operation alone is estimated at $52,000, the operation is only carried out in the U.S. and involves a month long outpatient stay

As Keira's parents we feel that we fail her, we cannot take away her pain, and we cannot make her the same as all the other boys and girls at school.

Please help us help our daughter, anything that you contribute will help. We can't do this on our own.