A brain seizure had left her three-year-old girl unable to move her arms or legs or speak, reliant on drugs and 24-hour hospital care.
But five years later Emily’s life has been turned around by the care she receives in the UK, and the generosity of Islanders who have helped her family to pay for it.
And at the turn of 2008, Suzanne describes the change in her daughter as unbelievable.
‘I have never seen any child so disabled as Emily was. She was all twisted up and fitting constantly. All the hospital could offer her was drugs, drugs, drugs. She wasn’t getting any better, it was heartbreaking,’ she said.
‘The change is unbelievable – the things that this treatment is doing for her now. It used to break my heart seeing her like she was but now I wake up in the morning and she has a big beautiful smile.’
But the drug-free treatment that Emily now receives – based on the thesis of a UK doctor Linda Scotson – involves regular trips to the UK, at a cost of more than £1,000 a time.
And because the Scotson technique, which involves daily exercises to encourage circulation and breathing, is not recognised as official medical practice, Suzanne has to rely on fund-raising and donations to keep the treatment going.
