Hopes high Kyle’s wish to walk will come true

A MAJOR fundraising drive to help a five-year-old Ashbourne boy realise his dream to walk has just been launched.

Kyle Fitzgerald has cerebral palsy and can't stand or walk and his parents Rory and Janine were given the devastating news that he would be in a wheelchair for life. 
However, they have never given up hope that their son would walk one day and began researching SDR surgery available at a specialist centre in the US. 
St Louis Children's Hospital, Missouri, recently reviewed Kyle's case and have accepted him for the surgery. 
Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) is a procedure that selects (Selective) problematic nerves in the spinal cord (Dorsal) and cuts these nerve roots (Rhizotomy) which provides pain relief by reducing the tightness and frees the muscles to act normally.
By the time he was eight to nine months old, Kyle's parents were very concerned that he was missing milestones and after months of tests, Kyle was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was 18 months old. 
"Kyle has the body and weight of a five year old, but his legs only have the strength of a one-year-old," explained his dad Rory.
The sooner Kyle can get the surgery, the better the outcome. "He's also getting bigger and we need to get our home renovated and make it wheelchair friendly but we have been holding out hope that he might get accepted for SDR, " said Rory.

 

Kyle is in junior infants in St Mary's in Ashbourne where he is settling in well. His older brother Calum (11) is also in the school and Kyle also has a 19-year-old brother Jamie.
It was while watching a TV show that the Fitzgeralds learned about the SDR Fitness Wales centre. The show followed a young boy from Wales and the post op work he did with the team and by the end of the show the child walked. 
Doctors here had ruled Kyle out for surgery but his parents did not accept this and decided to get a second opinion by having him assessed in Wales. In March, they spent five days with the team in Wales who felt Kyle had a good range of movement would be a good candidate for the follow-up physio.
"By pure coincidence they told us that the surgeon that carries out the SDR surgery was in Ireland the following weekend to hold a party for the children he has operated on. We spoke with him and his team and they said to send over Kyle's medical reports, x-rays, MRIs, EEG and videos of him so they could carry out an evaluation. And then in July we got news he was approved."
They have been told that Kyle's surgery will be carried out in November 2019 but hope to get on a cancellation list before then. In the meantime, he continues to have physiotherapy through Enable Ireland.
However, the operation is expensive and between the surgery and the post operative physio they will have to fundraise €100,000. 'Kyle's Wish to Walk' fundraising campaign is now on the Just 4 children website, which is a registered charity.

A facebook page 'Kyle's Wish to Walk' has also been set up charting his journey which also links to the fundraising page.