We did it! Thank you so much... £85k raised and we're on our way to a future with 'happy feet' (check out our totaliser page for some of the things you did to help!)
We have now reached our appeal target thanks to the kindness and support of so many friends, family, people in our local community and further afield and to the many businesses that have also supported us so generously. It's been a bit of a whirlwind few months but we can now focus on making the trip to America and brining Holly and Lucy back home to a brighter future. Thanks again to each and every one of you who have helped to make this happen and we'll keep you updated with our progress.
Sarah, Steve, Holly & Lucy x x 
Holly & Lucy's Happy Feet Appeal - Welcome
Me and my sister are identical twins. We are 7 years old and were born 10 weeks prematurely weighing just 2lb 2oz and 2lb 12 oz. We have Cerebral Palsey (CP).
Cerebral Palsy affects people in many different ways and is caused by damage to the brain before, during or after birth and can affect movement, posture and coordination.
We have Spastic (CP), the most common form of Cerebral Palsy which means it affects our legs. We can walk independently but require special shoes and leg splints to accomplish this.
Our muscle tone is tight and this causes us to walk on our tiptoes. We can't put both feet flat on the ground and because of this we have poor balance and often trip and fall over.
To ensure the muscles in our legs don’t become too tight we have to do stretching exercises on a daily basis; unfortunately as we grow the Spasticity will become more noticeable and make even the most simple tasks more difficult.
We recently became aware of an operation available in America at St Louis Children's Hospital called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). This operation has been performed for more than 28 years on over 2,000 patients.
This is a very successful procedure and is the reason why our mum and dad have gone bananas about raising money to take us to America. It's a bit scary but me and my sister have always talked to each other about life with 'Happy Feet'.
SDR gets a better explanation on another page, but essentially this means cutting the 'bad' nerves going to our legs which cause the spasticty.
Mum and Dad submitted videos and X-Rays for assessment by St Louis Children’s Hospital and we have been recently accepted as ideal candidates for this operation.
Mum and Dad were also told by the Neurosurgeon Dr T. S. Park MD, who performs this procedure that following surgery we will be almost completely free of our disability and our walking and posture will be close to normal.
Best of all is that we won't have to wear our leg splints any more and we can go shopping for nice shoes and enjoy ‘happy feet’ just like you.
The operation, travel, accommodation and aftercare physiotherapy for both of us will cost approximately £100,000. Unfortunately this procedure is not currently provided nor funded by the NHS and dad says we'll just have to raise the money ourselves.
Mum tells us £100,000 is an awful lot of money but between all our family and friends we're going to give this our very best shot. It's still a bit of a dream at the moment, but dreams do sometimes come true, don't they?
Our website will help to raise money for our Happy Feet Appeal and also give hope and information to other parents and children who are in a similar position.
Lots of love
Holly & Lucy
xx xx
