Oli's Paralympic Campaign 2020 #pushthru

BRIEF HISTORY OF OLIVER’S INJURY

Oliver sustained a spinal injury at birth. The initial outlook for Oliver was very grim. We were told to expect the worst, he was not expected to live, if he did live he would need assistance to breathe and swallow etc.

Oli’s injury occurred at level C5/C6 through to T2 during birth. There is no precedence for what happens next physically for Oliver, our neurologist told us early on “children don’t survive the type of severe trauma injury Oliver has, so he is writing the rule book”

He has endured and continues to undergo (fingers crossed less often) very invasive and draining (both physically and emotionally) treatment and therapies. Oli attends a range of clinics and sees a diverse range of specialists including, urologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, respiratory specialists, orthopaedic surgeons, orthotics specialists, paediatricians, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists, GPs etc. We continue with regular therapy visits at home and locally. Thankfully, we are spending much less time at the Royal Children’s Hospital; we have it down to an average of fortnightly visits. We try and do as much of his therapy as we can at home, outside school hours.

Oli continues to amaze us with his progress, which has a great deal to do with his motivation, maturity, intellect and general positive disposition.

Oli is aware of how he incurred his injury and is comfortable explaining this and answering other questions about why he is in a wheelchair etc as long as “the person asking really does want to listen to my answer”

From Oli:

I have always dreamed of representing Australia at the Paralympic Games and I have Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 firmly in my sights. My plan is to represent Australia in athletics, 100 and 200 metre sprints and or tennis and if things get really desperate I’m prepared to play table tennis!

This year I agreed to have major spinal surgery, de-tethering of my spinal cord and Bipolar Transverse Instrumentation for scoliosis. After 3 weeks in hospital, I’m now 6 weeks post spinal surgery and becoming more familiar with my new skeleton. I am looking forward to working at getting my fitness and getting back on the track.

As you can imagine, the costs of training, equipment, rehabilitation and travel costs are high, that's why we need you! Please donate and keep checking back for events.

HELP US GET OLI TO THE OLYMPICS !

Pushthru Team #pushthru