Daniel's Story
Snowdrop's
founder, Andrew Brereton was father to Daniel who suffered with
profound brain injuries at birth. These injuries caused
a mixture of symptoms, - some of quadriplegic cerebral palsy and
some of autism, although neither of those diagnoses do justice to
the true nature and severity of his brain injuries!
Unfortunately, Daniel passed away fourteen years ago, suffering a
series of brainstem strokes.
Andrew and his wife Janet always knew that for someone with his
pattern of brain injury (suffering injury to the lower brainstem)
the length of his life would be severely limited, but
unfortunately, knowing that something is going to hurt, doesn't
actually stop it hurting when it happens! Andrew takes up the
story from here.
Daniel was born at the North Staffordshire Maternity Hospital
in Stoke -On-Trent on the 4th September 1987 and within a few short
weeks was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
We were warned by the paediatrician that the fact he was able
to make such an early diagnosis indicated a high degree of severity
of the condition. He was not wrong and within a few weeks it
became clear that I would be forced to give up my work as a chemist
in the ceramics industry, in order to help my wife, Janet look
after him. - Daniel rarely slept, he could stay awake for days and
nights on end. This was an impossible situation for my wife to deal
with alone and soon she was struggling to cope, whilst I went out
to work.
Although in the early months of Daniel's life, I was largely
at home, I became increasingly interested in Daniel's problems and
in neuroscience, so I decided to enrol for a university degree at
our local college of higher education, which is part of Manchester
University. The structure of my chosen courses meant that I
only had to be on campus part of the time, so I was still largely
available to help with Daniel's care. Three years later I
passed my degree with upper second class honours, my final
dissertation being on the subject of "programmes of rehabilitation
and their effects upon brain - injured children and their
families."
The three years of my degree studies paid off in more than one
way, - not only did they foster in me a greater understanding of
the difficulties Daniel faced, they also highlighted some useful
techniques which we could employ in treating some of those
difficulties; some of these techniques really had an impact upon
his quality of life.
My success in my studies also further fuelled my interest in
this field and so I enrolled on further courses, eventually gaining
post graduate qualifications in 'child development,' 'language and
communication impairments in children,' and ultimately an MSc based
in neuroscience and child development. I was also fortunate
to be involved in several research projects such as the
construction of neural networks to mimic cognitive processes in
children, the design and employment of sociocultural learning
programmes with children who experience learning difficulties and
the design and employment of various communication therapies for
children who experience language and communication
difficulties.
Although throughout his lifetime, Daniel remained very
severely disabled; our efforts at helping him were far from
fruitless. At birth, Daniel was cortically blind and
deaf. This meant that although his eyes and ears were working
normally, his brain was not interpreting the sensory information,
which they were collecting. However, gradually through our
utilisation of techniques which I developed, we restored both
his vision and his hearing. This may sound small beer in the global
picture of overwhelming global handicap, but for Daniel it meant
that he could now see his Mum and Dad; - that he could see, hear
and begin to interact with his two younger brothers. - This
revolutionised Daniel's whole being.
Sadly, Daniel passed away fourteen years ago. We miss
him terribly and there will always be a massive hole in our
lives. How do you get over the death of a child?
However, the snowball of enthusiasm and interest, which he created
in me, - interest in helping to solve the problems many children
face, rolls on.
Using all of the knowledge, which my son passed to me,
(despite all my qualifications and research experience, he remains
my most astute tutor), I have established Snowdrop for Brain
Injured Children. Snowdrop aims to take all the knowledge and
experience amassed over the years and to utilise it for the benefit
of children and families like ourselves. Snowdrop
provides programmes of developmental stimulation for children
who experience a wide range of developmental disabilities,
including neuro-genetic disorders. Treatment is carried out by
the family in the child's own home. Our 'programmes' are
variable in their intensity, depending upon the particular problems
displayed by the child and are designed to fit in with what the
family can practicably achieve without placing them under an undue
burden of stress.
The problems which Daniel faced during his life were
insurmountable, but the fact that he was able to teach me so much
is now helping children all over the world to achieve things in
terms of their development and abilities which ordinarily they
would never have achieved. He is still touching so many lives
and having a positive impact upon them.
Andrew Brereton