“Bella is a happy, vibrant little girl with a calm temperament. She is very social and is fascinated by other children, Bella also loves water and swimming. Above all, she adores her older brother Beauden and wants to be doing anything that he does.” 

Bella became a Tauranga member of Brain Injured Children Trust in December 2020 at 18 months old after a diagnosis of cerebral palsy following an early pregnancy stroke which means Bella is effectively missing a very large chunk of her left brain. Bella’s mum Taryn believed Bella needed holistic treatment that would enable a brain-body connection to support Bella’s development rather than just focusing on the body and muscular treatments. A friend of hers – and a BICT member – suggested she talk to Shirley who founded BICT to find out how we could support Bella and her family.

At the outset of Bella’s programme with NDTP she was required to do four x 30-minute sessions per day increasing to six sessions a day in due course. Bella needed a group of volunteers to help her – and entertain her – through the sessions and Taryn needed support to make it happen.

There are always highs and lows, and life happens on these journeys causing progress to sometimes stand still (thanks COVID). But Taryn managed to get all the ducks in a row and Bella started seriously focusing on her NDTP in March 2022 and we are thrilled to report that by the end of May Bella was crawling! This is a huge achievement for Bella as she has never been weigweight-bearingher right arm.

“We have been busy behind the scenes, and Bella is progressing superbly, and I just know that she wouldn’t be crawling right now had it not been for the home therapy programme that we have been doing.”

Taryn Welch