When we first met Odin in January 2012 he was one very cute 2 year old!

Odin was born extremely prematurely (at 26 weeks) and suffered from Cerebral Palsy.

His condition left him with significant mobility issues in both his arms and legs – something that greatly impacted his mobility.  Odin found it very hard to sit without support – even for very short periods of time and had limited floor mobility, having just recently learnt to roll and crawl on his tummy.

A Second Skin Body Suit, like the ones we’ve previously funded for Amy, Jocelyn and Piper, would allow Odin to sit without support for the first time and to walk independently using his walker. He’d wear it every day, allowing his muscles to work better and get stronger.

These differences would make a huge difference to Odin’s quality of life and give him access to a much greater range of play experiences.

Odin’s mum is a young single mum who adores him, and who wants him to have every possible opportunity to develop to his potential – but she’s never going to be able to do this alone on a carer’s pension.

Odin’s Suit had a cost of $2,735 and there is no government funding available to assist with that cost – so we launched Odin’s Appeal. It wasn’t a hard ask – we knew our community would adore him and they did – the funds were raised in just 4 working days!

Odin quickly realised that having his special suit on opened up the world to him. Soon after being fitted with it, a visit to the local shopping centre without his suit resulted in him becoming very upset and repeatedly saying “mummy Odin fall!” over and over again.  Odin started asking to wear his suit for longer than most children normally tolerate wearing it.  Because of this, his OT tells us that even when he’s not wearing his suit his trunk control and movements have improved even more dramatically than they could have hoped.

These pictures are priceless.  Yes, that IS the now 3 year old Odin sitting UNAIDED blowing bubbles and STANDING next to his toy truck.  Other incredible things that have happened as a direct result of his increased muscle tone include better fine motor control (he can isolate the movement of his hand from his arm and trunk), therefore making the trial of a powered wheelchair a very real plan for 2013, and he has also been fitted with a Hart walker, allowing him to walk independently around the house and child care.

But as all healthy young boys do, Odin had grown.  Every 12 months or so a new suit is needed to match his growth and provide different support to different areas. In December 2012 Odin needed his next superman suit.  At a cost of around $2,700 we were hoping everyone would pitch in again and make this happen for a very special little guy and his wonderful mum Holly. And , of course, you did.

Thank you to everyone who donated to Odin’s Appeal. On December 18th the Harris & George families donated $997 to finish the appeal – in lieu of buying Christmas presents for each other.  That one truly beautiful gesture shows that there are still people in our world who understand the true meaning of Christmas. We thank each and every one of them.