MADDOX:

Maddox is a delightful, three year old boy who is responsive to his challenging environment and to the loving  people who  surround him. Deprived of oxygen at birth, Maddox suffered from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. His condition  has affected Maddox’s ability to develop proper trunk and head posture, and although he can move his limbs, he needs assistance with positioning. Maddox also suffers from cortical visual impairment, seizures and high muscle tone, which challenge his ability for independent walking, sitting and eating.

Maddox has participated in extensive early intervention therapies including speech, vision, occupational and physical therapy. While he is showing improvement from these efforts, he needed additional therapy and equipment to stimulate  further development.  Maddox’s doctor recommended 2 specific therapeutic devices to enhance his potential and well being:  leg braces,  to allow him the persuit of standing upright; and a gait trainer  to introduce the  potential for movement. Used together, these devices  would offer Maddox the opportunity  to develop  walking skills and greatly improve the quality of his daily life. In addition, a supplemental therapy called Therasuit Therapy  was recommended.

About Therasuit:
The Therasuit TM is a soft dynamic orthotic, constructed of a breathable fabric that is inspired by technology developed to help Russian astronauts to counteract the negative effects of weightlessness. The Therasuit acts as an external set of muscles and the therapy helps to support a child in proper upright alignment while strengthening the weak muscles and facilitating normal movement.  The benefits of  Plus Utilizing Therasuit Therapy are that it:
-               Retrains the central nervous system
-               Normalizes muscle tone
-               Provides external stabilization
-               Improves hip alignment through vertical loading over the hip joint
-               Improves body alignment
-               Provides tactile stimulation
-               Normalizes (corrects) gait pattern
The family requested the aforementioned devices and therapy not only to  fully comply with the recommendations of their son’s physician, but also to ensure that he be allowed to develop to his fullest potential.  With great pleasure,  JBF  purchased leg braces, a gait trainer, and  25 Therasuit Therapy sessions on behalf of three year old Maddox.   Much to our delight, Maddox responded so well with the initial Therasuit Therapy, that the JBF Board provided an additional 25 sessions.

Maddox’s mom writes in her thank you note, “when he received his walker, he got in it and was scooting around.  He likes it so much that he started using his hands to hold on to the arm handles, (he’s never done before!).” She further writes he is “doing so well and gaining a lot of strength from Therasuit. He is also improving in many different areas of development.  We wouldn’t have been able to do this without you.”