Ella Williams
Ella’s family came to Tree of Hope in 2020 to fundraise for vital rehabilitation therapies, following an operation that she was also due to have via the NHS.
Ella was born prematurely at 26 weeks along with her twin brother Aaron, and was diagnosed with diplegic cerebral palsy at 2 years old caused by her early birth. This form of cerebral palsy means that she has spasticity in her legs which makes it difficult for her to balance and walk without support.
After a long wait for surgery, Ella finally had life-changing SDR surgery on 17th September 2022 to remove the spasticity in her legs, in the hope that she will one day be able to walk independently, with the help of lots of specialist physiotherapy! Rehabilitation after SDR is crucial to ensure the best possible results from this operation, but Ella like many of our other children has always been determined to achieve!
Within a matter of weeks of starting their fundraising campaign, Jennifer, Ella’s Mum had raised over 50% of the £35,000 target due to the support from Tree of Hope promoting her campaign, as well as the kindness of the people of Glasgow and her gran's supportive network of friends, family and contacts.
Ella had her procedure on the 17th September 2022 and the family reached their target, which means Ella can ensure she gets as much rehabilitation support as she needs. She attends Walk this Way in Perth and is going from strength to strength. Ella has also attended SwimLab International in Lanzarote to improve her gait and independent walking, and is also planning a return trip!
“Tree of Hope have supported our fundraising by quickly giving us exposure to national media which in turn promoted our campaign and subsequently led to more donations from a wider audience than we could have reached ourselves. It’s thanks to this, we quickly raised enough money to help Ella’s pre and post rehab for SDR surgery which took a huge financial pressure off us as a family.”
