Thanks to a new wheelchair, a toddler with cerebral palsy experiences the ocean for the first time…

Hypersensitivity is a documented side effect of cerebral palsy, which can make some textures, sounds, or crowded surroundings seem overpowering. Additionally, it causes stiff, rigid muscles that make walking extremely difficult. Due to a modified wheelchair, cerebral palsy patient Joey Leathwood, age 2, recently experienced swimming in a beach for the first time. The more than $3,700 wheelchair is equipped with a headrest and harness to allow people with mobility impairments, such as cerebral palsy, to sit upright. It also has substantial, heavy-duty plastic “balloon” wheels that can glide over the surface of sand and through water without becoming caught.

The Sheffield native can be seen relaxing on Friday at Skegness Beach in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, in an emotional video. Joey can be seen laughing in the video that his mother, Helen Butterfield, posted on social media. As his father gently moves the chair and his mother giggles behind the camera, the boy squeals with joy. According to Helen, Joey’s full-time caretaker, he is severely sensory impaired and unable to care for himself. BeachAbility, a local nonprofit that focuses on assisting the disadvantaged with mobility, provided the family with a wheelchair without charging them a penny.

The family doesn’t typically visit the beach very frequently since Joey “doesn’t enjoy certain textures, such as grass, sand, snow, and fluffy stuff,” according to his mother. “If he can’t process an emotion and merely ends up locked in his pushchair far away from the water,” says Joey, “that makes me sick.” But Joey truly enjoys being in the water, Helen noted in her Facebook post. “My kid loves water so much, and today, at almost three years old, he went in the sea for the first time, and honestly, he has never laughed so much,” the mother said. He had the necessary bodily support from the wheelchair, according to Helen, and “it was so easy to push across the sand and of course go into the water.” “He didn’t have to touch any sand, which was another benefit,” she added.

For the first time, Joey, his brother Connor, 11, and sister Maisie, 8, were allowed to play in the sea “rather than feeling alienated and unwelcome. ” He also enjoyed seeing the waves splash over the chair’s top while remaining secure. Until we rented the Hippocampe beach wheelchair from BeachAbility, Joey couldn’t play with my other kids since he couldn’t sit up, Helen explained. Helen remarked, “Seeing his reaction was certainly one of the most special moments of my life.

I just can’t say enough good things about the organization, and I wish there had been something like this around years ago because it would have helped so many people. Helen uttered, “Please try BeachAbility Ingoldmells Beach Wheelchairs if you or someone you know is disabled and you live in a wheelchair. Even though he is still too young to sit alone, my kid loves the water so much that today, when he was almost three years old, he went swimming in the sea for the first time. He honestly has never laughed so hard. I can’t express my gratitude to this group enough for giving so many people of all ages the chance to experience life “beside the ocean.” Instead of feeling excluded and different, it has given my son the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature and the waves.”

Watch his joy in the video below:

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Thanks to a new wheelchair, a toddler with cerebral palsy experiences the ocean for the first time…
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