During December the Currencies Direct offices in the UK, Spain and India joined forces for the first time to collect for a common cause. Each office held a secret santa which involved individuals exchanging gifts in the usual way, but each participate also put money into a pot. Currencies Direct had promised to match the total amount raised, and this meant that in December we raised an additional £1000 for charity! This is a great achievement and way above the target we had originally set ourselves. The charity we chose to come together to collect for, is a special charity for a special little boy - The Tomas Leighton Fund. It is especially close to our hearts as Tomas is the son of Jill who works for Currencies Direct in Spain. Below is some background information on Tomas, written by Jill, with some photographs.
Tomas is 5 years old and was born with Cerebral Palsy. He was also born totally blind and was diagnosed with West Syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy, at the age of six months.
In his first few years he was given little hope of recovery. His hands were clenched, his head was floppy, he could not roll over or sit up, he could not eat solid food easily, he did not speak and he was generally unaware of the world around him. He was also taking daily epilepsy drugs to control his seizures.
From the age of six months, as well as the physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, touch, hearing and speech stimulation sessions we attend with him every week, Tomas requires regular EEG tests, to monitor his brain activity and many other scheduled appointments with ophthalmologists, neurologists, rehabilitation specialists, audiologists and speech therapists.
Tomas has made great strides over the last few years and especially the last year. Due to the help he has received, he can now sit alone, holds his head up most of the time, eats most things without any problem, is now able to walk short distances, has irregular 10% vision on his right side and is beginning to say a few words. His epilepsy has also reduced to a manageable level without the need for medication.
The problems he continues to face are:
He has limited vision which restricts his ability to learn and be independently mobile without bumping into and falling over things.
He cannot feed himself, since his use of his hands in finer movements, such as drawing, placing objects accurately, using cutlery etc. is uncontrolled.
He is still in nappies and does not grasp the concept of asking for things generally e.g. tell us when he needs the toilet, when he is hungry etc.
His learning capabilities are very slow and his understanding is limited and mainly from memory rather than understanding.
His speech is restricted to basic words and a few selected learnt rhymes and he finds it hard to assimilate sentences.
One of our goals is to store Tomas´ milk teeth in special laboratories in Bioeden, Daresbury, Cheshire and later use the vital cells that the teeth provide for stem cell therapy. This is most likely to be first available in America, where medical research in this area is most concentrated and regulated, but there are also great centres of excellence in the UK and research and treatments in other countries e.g. China and Germany.
Stem cell treatment is an area of research that could help Tomas in the future. This treatment would help to repair the areas of his brain with most damage. These areas are the Basal Ganglia (used to control his balance and movement) and the Visual Cortex (used to provide his visual acuteness and understanding).
In turn, this would enable Tomas to see better, assist him with his balance and walking and facilitate better learning. This would then allow Tomas to understand and enjoy the world around him in a way that his is not currently able to.
We believe that there are also other centres of excellence and therapy which may help Tomas, such as Bibic in Somerset in the UK, Bobath Centres in London, Wales and Edinburgh and many others worldwide, but are not sure which of these would be most beneficial to his specific needs and potential without attending consultation sessions at such centres.
For such therapies and treatments we are aiming to raise £100,000 and we are currently over a third of the way to meeting that target.
Despite the many obstacles that all his disability brings, Tomas wants to learn and is developing in areas that were said to have been hopeless.
To see how funds raised are helping Tomas, you can login to facebook and type ´Support Tomas Leighton´ (Tomas without the ´h´) for more information about Tomas and his therapies and progress. You can also get updates on his milestones and progress in video format online. You can do this by accessing www.youtube.com and typing ´Tomas Leighton´ (again without the ´h´) in the search box at the top of the screen and then clicking on any of the videos of Tomas.
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