MP Fitness week 2 - Daniel takes the next step!

We have come to the end of our two weeks in Perth, and tomorrow we start the long drive south!

It has been extremely tough, physically and emotionally, but part of the amazing touch that Mike Poole has is that his fairly brutal treatment seems to build the confidence in the children, not destroy it. Daniel has been hugely proud of his achievements and consistently positive about going every day, even when he has been reduced to tears during the session. He is visibly stronger and has made some dramatic progress.

Here are some clips and photos of this week's hard work.....

 

Tuesday's session was particularly special because Daniel was reunited with his friend Brooke! If you followed Daniel's progress while we were in St Louis you might remember that Daniel and Brooke had their SDR (and later their orthopaedic surgeries) on the same day. They went through so much together and they (and both families) share a very special bond. Daniel was absolutely thrilled to see Brooke, and both of them enjoyed working in the gym at the same time again (although with different instructors).

Daniel and Brooke both slogging away in the gym

Of course, nobody could work out in the gym all day, and there has been time for some relaxation too. We have visited Scone Palace (twice!), and have enjoyed some fun in the garden with Grandma, amongst other things.

On Wednesday evening, both children were thrilled when Daddy arrived, to join us for the final couple of days, and Dan was keen to show off his new skills!

So, what is this 'dramatic progress' that I referred to at the start of the post? The first is that this week Daniel has learned to walk with his quad sticks!

From now on we will be using his sticks to walk around the house, and walker when out and about, but hoping to move to sticks being his main method of walking within a few months.

The other major breakthrough is shown is this clip below - Daniel's first EVER two independent steps!

So, all in all, an excellent couple of weeks, and we will look forward to our next trip to MP Fitness in a few months. We now have the new exercise programme from Mike, which requires us to find another 45 minutes in every day. I have no idea how we are going to manage that, but we are determined to do so, because we now understand that the combination of strengthening work, in conjunction with the great physio input he already has, could truly help release Daniel's potential, whatever that may be.