Meet our clients: Candace

Candace makes great progress with Montrose

Candace is a happy little girl, living with a developmental delay after suffering seizures as an Infant. She is just about to celebrate her second birthday.

At this age, time is critical as children grow and develop very rapidly. That’s why Candace’s family accessed multidisciplinary services at Montrose to help her catch up with other kids her age.

“Not long after she was born, she started having little muscle spasm in her arms and legs, ” explains mum Cassie

“Then one morning she just rolled her eyes to the back of her head and I couldn’t get her attention. We rushed straight to hospital where she had another seizure. We didn’t know what was causing it and we were scared we might lose her. Our pastor came and she had a lot of prayers,” Cassie continues.

Although the seizures have stopped, there has still been no diagnosis of a specific cause and Candace still sees a paediatrician for further investigations.

To ensure she doesn’t fall behind, Candace attends therapy at Montrose and is currently focussing on her movement and strength goals.

“Montrose had everything in one place so I only have to go there to get all Candace needs”, says Cassie.

In a session run by Occupational Therapist Jessica and Physiotherapist Yolande, Candace takes toys out of a box, chases a ball on the floor and climbs up a little step. This is great progress as only a few months ago, Candace would cry during sessions and struggle to even sit up.

“She’s come a long way this year and made a lot of progress.” explains Cassie.

“When we first came, she couldn’t sit or self-feed. But, just last week, she sat up by herself in the shopping trolley and she is starting to feed herself as well”, she says.

Next on the goal list for Candace is therapy support as she learns to walk, and continues to learn about play and using toys to develop her fine motor skills.

With all of Candace’s great progress, it’s hard to believe that without the support of Montrose, these goals may not be possible. As Candace needs more therapy than originally planned, her funding package has already been spent. Being unable to access a funding review immediately, her family faced the prospect of stopping therapy for months.

As Montrose knows that therapy at the right time can make a huge difference, we are able to provide ongoing therapy at no cost to the family as they work towards a review!