Parent's Report

Hello Marguerite

I thought I would email you to give you an update on how Nicholas is doing. Well what can I say when we left Graz on 14th March, Nicholas weighed 9.4 kilos. Today he weighs 11 kilos and has grown over 1.5 inches since May. He is doing great. When we first came home, he would only eat banana custard!! But he would he would eat about a kilo in weight a day!! He then went through a phase where he insisted on mash potato all the time. Now he eats almost anything. He absolutely loves baked beans and spaghetti hoops. He loves it when we go out and gets a treat in Macdonalds. Somedays his meals are so big, I do wonder if he has hollow legs!! When we first came home he would eat continously, now we have managed to get him into a routine of 3-4 meals a day and snacks in between. We took him swimming last week and in the changing rooms there was a little girl eating crisps. Nicholas being the charmer he is smiled away at her until she gave him some crisps!! I would have only dreamt of a moment like that 7 months ago.

His speech is improving so much. Michael and i think it has helped now that he is eating as his muscles in his jaw are obviously developing. His excema appears to have cleared up, but we do get a little every now and then, but not as much as he used to. I have done a talk about your clinic to a room full of parents whose children have Goldenhar. It was a very successful talk!! One little girl called Emily Harper is now attending your clinic in November 2008. I cannot remember her name, but when we left there was one little girl from Munich who still wasn't eating. Did she eventually start to eat or did she fail to learn? I always think about her and her mum and wonder if you would send them our best wishes.

Attached there should be a photo of Nicholas but this is quite an old one now. This was taken in April, but as you can see he is getting tuck into a carton of drink. I will send you an up to date one in a couple of weeks and you will really see the difference. If you type Nicholas Shoesmith into Google you will see all his stories from the local paper. He has been in a national magazine recently talking about your clinic, so I will send you a photocopy of this very shortly. Thankyou so much for all your help and also all the help of all your staff. We really couldn't have got Nicholas eating without your support.

Best regards Audrey Campbell and Michael Shoesmith

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