This is our story (Kelly Crowley)
My husband and I are blessed with 3 little girls. My oldest is Mackenzie, who is 3 years old. When she was only 9 months old, we were surprised to find out that we were pregnant with twins. When we found out we were having girls, what a blessing that was! We were busy with me going back to work and looking after our oldest. It became stressful with everything that was going on, and we were faced with appointment after appointment.
On May 13, 2010, I went into pre-mature labor. I was 27 Weeks and 6 days; I had a long 3 months of my pregnancy left. My husband and I rushed to the Brantford General Hospital. They in turn rushed me by ambulance to London, where I gave birth to our girls Payton and Taylor on May 14th 2010. The twins had a very traumatic birth experience that morning of May 14th.
On Sunday May 16, 2010, the doctors rushed to my room and told us Taylor was bleeding internally and she needed a blood transfusion. After all the transfusions and ultrasounds, we learned that she had a brain hemorrhage causing Cerebral Palsy. You could imagine our hearts were broken and our minds were confused. Neither one of us knew a lot about Cerebral Palsy. We were told not to research it on the Internet, because every degree of CP is different.
Taylor spent a very long 6 ½ months in the hospital. At one point, all of our babies were in different cities. You could only imagine how much driving we did and how to decide where to be the next day. During Taylor’s stay in London, on a regular basis the neurosurgeon would come and see her to make sure the blood was drying up and to check her head circumference. If it was higher than the day before, the doctor would drain excess fluid from the top of her head. She was also diagnosed with hydrocephalus and needed a shunt. She finally got that shunt in November of 2010. Two weeks after her surgery, she was able to come home–just in time for Christmas.
When she came home we were referred to Lansdowne Children’s Centre in Brantford. I always knew it was there, but never really understood until now what an amazing group of loving people who are there. They come to your house, help you with things your child needs to work on, you go to their centre to visit with many therapists, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. They also have a special place called Kids Country Inn and an infant development program. We cannot begin to explain where we would be without them. They help us not only understand Taylor, but they also help us to be the family we need to be for our three angels. They are really the heart and soul of our community, and we want to thank them for that.
On October 27, 2012, my husband and I are having a fundraiser in support for the Every Kid Counts Program. This program was designed to help children with special needs to be a part of regular programs. Currently only 60 children can attend the program with an allowance of only 40 hours per child. This program solely relies on the community for funding. If it wasn’t for the community, there would not be a program where these amazing kids can be themselves. The event is a Halloween Bash. We have live music by Spencer Creek along with DJ Night Crawler. Food Supplied is y East Side Mario’s, plus there is a silent auction, 50/50, door prizes, and best costume prizes. Tickets are $10 each. Look out for the K-lite 92.1 Cruiser. They will be handing out prizes.
So come on out and support an amazing cause for amazing kids. This is our way of saying thank you to them. If we have your support this year, we hope to make this something we can put together every year.
If you would like to donate, purchase tickets, or sponsor this event, contact Kelley or Jeff Crowley at 519-442-5775 or by email: Crowley.kelley@gmail.com or jeff_m_crowley@hotmail.com.