Cloe Defies The Odds (Epilepsy)

Cloe had seizures her very first day of life. Doctors told us she had suffered a severe lack of oxygen during delivery and therefore she had a severe brain injury, which caused the seizures. They told us her brain would not perform as expected. Nobody could tell us how the injury would affect her, but they were very sure that she was going to have motor problems. Also, blindness could be expected. Her brain had lost too much, it was too much injured. This was the beginning. Her life adventure seemed to have started not in the starting line, but a long distance below it. It was hard to listen to such a bunch of prognoses, but they were the reason why we decided to start to do as much as we could right away, not leaving any stone unturned.

Doctors were skeptical about any suggestion of treatment we consulted them. The brain seems to be an iceberg of which we are only able to see the very top, and any attempt to modify its structure would consume a lot of resources and would have unpredictable results.

But, despite this skepticism, we strongly felt we had to do something. The sooner and the more intense, the better. When she was 2 months old we found the Doman International and their philosophy was very much like ours: work hard and believe in your child, in her enormous potential.

When we started not even our wildest dreams were close to where we are now. She defeated all odds and has become a lovely, intelligent and physically superb child.

The list of her achievements is huge. At the age of 4, she is able to read above her peers level and she understands basic maths. She writes many words of daily life effortlessly. She is learning to play the violin and enjoys it very much. She is able to complete a 5 km race leaving behind adults that cannot keep her running pace. She rides a bike without stabilizers showing an amazing sense of balance and confidence. She has become a responsible person and helps with daily chores. We could continue writing, but to summarize, all we can say is that she is a very happy and sociable person, who strongly feels can reach anything she wants, just working very hard, believing in herself and being guided by the strongest power of all: love.

We could not have dreamed anything better for her. We could never have imagined what an amazing adventure we were going to live and how much this journey would make us grow. To any parent listening to our history, we send our best wishes, support, and affection."