Leah Paterson

taking on Steptember!

This month, our team is stepping for Rylan 💙

Our beautiful 3-year-old boy who is full of life, energy and joy — and we feel so lucky every day to watch him refuse to let Cerebral Palsy slow him down.

Rylan is supported by physio, OT, speech therapy and, of course, his awesome Spidey AFO — which is currently being upgraded to The Flash, so naturally he can run even faster! ⚡️

Rylan’s journey started before we really knew it had begun. After seizures late in pregnancy and then sepsis at just 6 weeks old, we began noticing increased muscle tone on one side of his body.

We were told not to worry, but I knew something wasn’t quite right. So I spoke for my little boy who couldn’t yet speak for himself.

After months of appointments, questions and pushing for answers, Rylan started physiotherapy, then OT, followed by appointments with paediatricians, orthopaedic surgeons and neurologists.

Eventually, we found ourselves sitting in an incredibly overwhelming appointment at the Royal Children’s Hospital with 11 doctors in the room, where we were given Rylan’s diagnosis:

Cerebral Palsy – Hemispheric Dystonia.

For Rylan, this means that when his brain has to send multiple messages at once, the increased muscle tone on his left side becomes more noticeable.

Ask him to run? No worries.
Ask him to run and kick a footy? His left foot turns in and his left arm comes up.

It might sound small, but for a little boy moving at 100km/h, it resulted in lots of falls and far too many smashed faces — which is where his trusty AFO came in!

A recent MRI has now confirmed his diagnosis.

Something the doctors have consistently told us is that a huge reason Rylan is doing so well is because of early intervention. It’s something I sometimes have to laugh at, because I remember just how hard I had to fight to get that early intervention in the first place.

But that fight was worth every appointment, every phone call and every question.

We’ve learnt that one of the best things we can do for Rylan is encourage him to live an active life. That’s something Jack and I have really tried to embrace — making movement, sport and being active something positive, fun and completely normal for him.

And judging by the speed he moves, I think we might have done too good a job 😂

So this month, we’re stepping for Rylan.

Every donation helps give another child like Rylan access to early intervention, therapy and the support that can make such an incredible difference to their future.

And if you can’t donate, that’s completely okay — join us instead. Get moving, challenge yourself and clock up some steps for Rylan. 💙

For our little boy, and for all the little legends just like him.

Thank you for supporting Rylan and our team. 🫶