MEET INDIA-ROSE CLAY
This cheeky, chatty 9 year old delight had surgery in November 2021 to repair her hip from a treatment injury 18 months ago. India-Rose and her whanau have been members of the trust since 2018 and Indie has been doing so well with her NDTP, even though modifications were required while her hip was problematic. For Indie a DMO suit and socks were vitally important to stabilise her hip and reduce the dystonia that was pulling on her hip and causing the dislocation, until she could have surgery.
Equally the suit and socks have been a core part of Indie’s recovery and rehabilitation programme. While Indie couldn’t weight bear for nearly three months post-surgery the DMO suit and socks helped with her intensive core and trunk therapies to prepare her for weight bearing activity and a return to her full NDTP.
DMO suits provide proprioceptive feedback to the brain, which is retained, it even keeps working when the suit is taken off – it’s a super suit! For Indie the DMO suit would compensate for collapsing to the left, avoiding the affected hip, retract her shoulders, align her pelvis, and rotate her legs to a neutral position. Unfortunately, these suits are not funded by Auckland DHB so we are very grateful that Brain Injured Children Trust, thanks to our supporters, were able to provide the funding Indie needed for her superhero suit.
It was a very happy moment in February when, 10 weeks post-surgery and only one month after her cast was removed, Indie returned to cross-legged sitting! Indie stayed there for three whole minutes before falling but then getting herself back up and doing another three minutes! Indie is a very determined girl and this was a wonderful milestone so soon post-surgery exceeding all expectations of her medical team. It’s also the first step to getting back to NDTP!
“Finally she has a functioning hip and thank you to the suit, her trunk tone and strength was maintained prior to surgery and has improved dramatically since.
She is doing so well and her team are marvelling at her displays of strength and progress.” Amy Clay (Indie’s Mum)
Well done Indie and Clay whanau and thank you for sharing this part of your journey with us and supporters of the trust xx
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