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Tracey Fallon

Steptember 26

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$350

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I'm taking on Steptember! Will you please show your support?

Hi! I’m stepping up for a month-long mood boost and taking on 10k steps a day. But I really need your help!

Please donate now to my Steptember fundraiser.

You’ll give me a much-needed motivation boost, plus you’ll feel great knowing that your gift is helping ensure more babies receive critical cerebral palsy therapy and support in their first 1,000 days of life.

Please support me this Steptember.

It will mean so much to me, and to the children and babies who will grow up with a greater sense of independence.

Donate now for an instant mood boost! Thank you!

My Fundraising

Impact image

My fundraising could help provide:

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therapy kits for babies with cerebral palsy.

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early response therapy sessions for babies with cerebral palsy.

Amount I've raised for people with cerebral palsy

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My Steps

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0% Complete

Steps

0

My goal

300,000

Impact Progress

Your donation can help me reach the next Impact Stage.
Impact Stage 1

Communication

Help children find their voice through speech therapy.

Impact Stage 2

Movement

Support physiotherapy that helps children build strength, movement and confidence.

Impact Stage 3

Mealtimes

Provide therapies for children who face challenges with eating and drinking.

Impact Stage 4

Independence

Give children greater independence through mobility equipment.

Impact Stage 5

Family Support

Support families with guidance, care and practical help.

Impact Stage 6

Regional Services

Bring vital care to babies who need it most in rural and regional areas.

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Updates

Malakai

Tuesday 4th Aug
During my pregnancy, all of Malakai's scans were completely healthy. But when he was 8 weeks old, he caught salmonella from what the doctors and lab test results believed it had come from the community from a random person coming up to him and touching him without asking me first and doing it before me having enough time to tell them not to touch him and they had passed it onto him from their hands. Malakai became violently ill, he had blood coming out of his bum in his nappy and was vomiting and became weak and floppy and almost non responsive, he was rushed to hospital where the emergency response team from NICU rushed over to him and started putting tubes down his throat and giving him injections that send a special medicine to protect his brain and his other organs to prevent them from shutting down and from his brain developing brain damage and to prevent him from developing meningitis and also cerebral palsy. 

A social worker walked me away down the hall and said I'm going to make you dinner and a cup of tea sweetheart, the doctor has informed me to let you know that he might not make it okay. If there is someone you would like to call you can sit here at the nurses desk and make a phone call. 

The doctor in charge of the emergency team then let me know that he had been stabilised. 

The blood was in every single nappy for the week that he was in hospital. But they kept giving him more medicine and he kept slowly getting a bit better. 

They performed a test on his brain and checked his other organs to look for damage and said that the salmonella had began to attack his brain but I had gotten him there as soon as the salmonella would have started to affect him and because of the early medical intervention, the damage is mild. 

They tested him for meningitis and it came back negative. But they said symptoms of cerebral palsy will start to show as he gets a bit older if it has caused cerebral palsy. 

Not long after he was released from hospital, symptoms started to show but I wasn't sure if I was just imagining the symptoms so had him checked by doctors and his child health nurse and they confirmed that they notice symptoms as well. 

He hasn't been tested for cerebral palsy yet but he will be tested shortly. He has been developing amazingly, he was a bit behind but has been catching up really well. 

Although he either doesn't have cerebral palsy or only has it mild, I feel as though there is a sense of closeness when I think about cerebral palsy because his outcome could have been so much harder for him than what it was. 

And I'm glad that special medicine exists. 

Something about that medicine though is that the doctor told me there is a chance that it might not work on him, the medicine doesn't always work. They did a test to see if it was even working and it was working. He had been laying in his hospital cot asleep for hours and I thought that's it the medicine will be protecting his brain and his other organs and then the doctor walked in and said I'll just check to make sure the medicine is working as it doesn't always work on people. It hadn't occured to me that it not working could be a possibility. 

Cerebral palsy can happen after birth and can happen to a baby that was born completely healthy. 

I hadn't handled any raw chicken or other raw meat, had been putting a sterilising tablet into the kitchen sink each time I did the dishes, he was up to date with his vaccinations, he was breastfed, he was healthy, everything was normal. Babies, especially newborns, don't have an immune system built up, they have little bodies and they are too young to get other vaccinations. Newborns are not to be touched or breathed on or coughed on or kissed by random people.