Change the Future for A Child with Scoliosis

Dear Friend, 

It never ceases to amaze us at the rate that time flies! We are well past the time for giving you an update on what is happening with our young man, Alex! Thank you so much for your patience and understanding during our little delay in sending you a much anticipated update of how Alex is doing with the help of your kind support. 

We are now just over the halfway mark in our winter season in South Africa. We have had some super cold days this year! Including a very unusual snow day which serendipitously fell in the school holidays - to the children's delight. Alex and our little cohort of primary school goers had a really great 3 week winter break! The 1st week they spent time unwinding at TLC after a busy semester of school, the 2nd week they enjoyed participating in a local Bible holiday club, and in the 3rd week they had a blast at an outdoor enviro-club! What a blessing for them to have such diverse experiences and input in their young lives. 

During this time Alex has experienced some ups and downs as he adjusts to life in a brace. While he was very enthusiastic in the beginning, his enthusiasm has waned as he starts to realise the reality of wearing his brace is a longterm discipline - which restricts him in many ways from interacting and roughhousing with other boys his age. While not every day is perfect, we continue to encourage him and are using this opportuinty to teach the invaluable lesson of consistency for the sake of delayed positive outcomes. We know that for an 11 year old boy, while this is incredibly trying, this experience will provide a lifelong lesson as great preparation in facing future challenges. We would love for you to send Alex any messages of encouragement in the hopes of motivating him in his journey to learning discipline in wearing his brace consistently. Sometimes, the kind, encouraging voice of someone not their your direct sphere of influence can have way more profound effect on the motivation of a child. If you feel moved to get in touch, please contact Pippa on pippa@tlc.org.za .

Other delevopments in Alex's journey have been his recent appointment at the optomitrist which revealed he has really complicated eyes - requiring what is called a "cycloplegic refraction" assessment to prescribe him specialized reading glasses. Aside from that he is also booked to see the orthodontist in September. Despite all the challenges this past school term he achieved an outstanding result in his English recited poetry Eistedfod in which he earned a mark of 88%! We are so increadibly proud of this achievement which is truly a testament to his tenacity and perserverance despite the physical challenges he is dealing with.  

Your role in providing a token of support for Alex is such a gift that we sincerely and deeply appreciate! 

Thank You Once Again!
If you ever wish to reach out please don't hesitate to get in touch. 
We would love to hear from you. 

With Hearfelt Thanks and
Kind Regards,
Faith Abrahams
Communications and Brand Associate

Dear Friends,

We are so grateful for your support of Alex in his therapy interventions as we walk this journey with him.
He has been such a trooper through all the changes and new therapy routines introduce to his daily life.

We attempted a microproject fundraiser to try and secure sponsorship for a monkey bars set to help with the strengthening and straightening of his spine (as recommended by his specialist). Unfortunately we were unable to reach our goal for this fundraiser, and instead the little amount we got for the monkey bars fundraiser was used instead toward the custom fabricated brace for Alex. We are so thrilled to be able to let you know that this posture correcting brace has already made a RADICAL difference in correcting the curve in Alex's spine. We are so incredibly grateful for your support in helping us to achieve this. 

We continue in walking with Alex through this journey and hope that you remain connected to see the amazing difference you have contributed towards in blessing him with this life altering intervention. 

If you ever have any questions, comments or feedback we are always thrilled to hear from our valued supporters!