Oliver, Age 3

Oliver, Age 3

Oliver is a very determined and happy little boy! When he was just one year old he was diagnosed with microcephaly, cerebral palsy, and genetic mutation on the CTNNB1 gene. He is one of about 150 children in the world with this gene mutation. Since it is extremely rare, there is no known treatment, besides therapy, to help individuals with this condition.

Our foundation covered a large bill that his health insurance denied from his summer hippotherapy at Napa Center and continues to fund his weekly hippotherapy at the Shea Center.  Since starting therapy, Ollie has made amazing progress! He went from army crawling to being able to take over 450 independent steps in a row!

We recently awarded Oliver and his family a $4,500 grant for a medical device called a Galileo that will continue to help him improve. Galileo’s mechano-stimulation is unlike any other neuromuscular and neural communication tool.  It involves the use of a mechanical stimulus to excite the nervous system making training more effective.  Galileo’s activity-based, high-repetition training will  improve motor learning through both “voluntary” pathways and “involuntary” reflex-based pathways using three frequency ranges. Training is fast, simple and efficient by recruiting the sensory and motor systems putting small and large antagonistic muscle groups through thousands of reflexive muscle contractions.  A training session of 3 minutes at 25 Hz provides 4500 muscle contractions similar to walking a distance of 4,500 steps.  No other training tool can provide this much neuromuscular stimulation in such a short time.

Thank you so much to the Maryam Parman Foundation! Our son Oliver went from a few independent steps to walking with assistance in less than two years with their help! We believe one day he will be running with the support of MPFC.” – Kristen

Please share his story and help us raise money to change the lives of children like Ollie!

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