Hi!
There are so many people out there who supported us in our Helping Hudson fundraiser and I wanted to show you Hudson in his KidWalk.
But first I want to tell you about how much of a difference it has made to Hudson's life. For starters, he is much happier in the KidWalk than he has ever been in any of the other walkers we trialled or borrowed. Just the fact that he is happy and not frustrated means that he wants to try to walk rather than fight to get out of the walker.
He has a new perspective on life - literally! I took him to a park in the KidWalk and he was able to get right up close to some bushes and see and touch the flowers on them. He hasn't been able to do that previously.
There have even been benefits when he hasn't been in his KidWalk. He is starting to cruise around the furniture, which he wasn't able to do before the KidWalk.
Hudson received his KidWalk at the end of November. At first he was only able to go backwards, but that is normal for kids as it is much easier form them. We took the walker with us on our Christmas holiday so that Hudson could still have time in it. Within about 6 weeks of getting his KidWalk he has started to walk forwards and has even worked out how to move the wheels to get himself unstuck if he backs himself into an obstacle.
Hudson's movement trauma doctor is confident that given time, Hudson will eventually walk on his own. Every step he takes on the way forward I am reminded of the Helping Hudson fundraiser.
I never could have imagined that he would benefit so much, and I can never thank everyone enough for all the love and support you have shown me and my family over the past 6 months. Thank you to everyone who purchased the tutorials or entered the challenges. Thanks to everyone who donated money to the fundraiser, or who sold cards and scraps, or collected donations from their craft ladies. Thank you to the very talented ladies who donated their time and tutorials to the fundraiser.
And finally, a very big thank you to the Helping Hudson team. Christine, Gardenia, Genna, Jo, Nikki and Sue - I am so grateful to everything you have done to help Hudson get his KidWalk. I am still amazed at how much we were able to achieve. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Thank you all so very much,
Tina, Rob, Alex, Ada and Hudson Gillespie.
