WHY ABR?

Almost 4 years ago, when Corbin was 2.5 years old, his paediatrician told us that it would be highly unlikely Corbin would ever walk independently. Naturally I was devastated to say the least because until then I had naivety on my side and was pinning my hopes on it just happening one day.

It is so hard to describe what it feels like as a mother/parent to have someone tell you that your child with never be "normal" or lead a "normal" life. Crushing, gutting, like someone ripping your heart out and stomping on it, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it!!

I was truly gutted and naturally had a few emotional "issues" to deal with. My way of dealing with it was to ask God what to do. I fervently prayed for the answer (now I'm not overly religious but I do know that there is a higher being and I call him God). Was this Corbins lot in life, was I meant to just accept it or was there something else I could do, I needed some guidance, I needed a sign.

After 1 week it happened, out of the blue there was a newspaper article (in the Southland Times - the one and only newspaper in Invercargill) about a local mum who was doing ABR for her son with CP. To further put this in perspective, at the time there were only 2 families in NZ doing ABR and 1 just happened to be in our neck of the woods and just so happened to contact the newspaper that week, and I just so happened to read the paper on that particular day which is not something I normally do...... I believe in signs, do you?

I looked up the website quoted in the article and was amazed at what I saw and instantly thought it was too good to be true. My gut instinct told me that this is what I had to do but naturally enough for me my head procrastinated and had to "ponder" the idea for quite some time. 5 months later I went to my first ABR clinic in Sydney, Australia.