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Dear
Hyperbaric Team,
I would like to thank you for all of your support in searching for help
for our son Tim. Two years ago, Tim
walked with a forearm crutch due to his cerebral palsy.
Without his crutch he could walk very short distances typically in our
house only. He could only stand
without support for maybe 10-15 seconds if he was really lucky.
The muscles in his legs were just way too tight and his balance was off.
After years of therapy, botox treatments, oral baclofen and even muscle
lengthening surgery, I was starting to lose hope that he would ever walk
independently. You can imagine how
disappointed we were after trying so many options that although he had made
progress we just could not get rid of the reliance on an assistive device.
Then, my mother-in-law recommended that we try hyperbaric oxygen therapy,
HBOT. I was very skeptical.
I thought if it really worked everyone would know about it and everyone
would be using it. Despite my better
judgment, we went ahead and tried it. I
felt like it would be like opening our car window and throwing $4,000 away.
The only reasonable cost
center we could find was in
Cincinnati
,
Ohio
. We sent Tim up to stay with his
two sets of grandparents who are retired and were willing to dedicate the 5
hours a day it would take. The
center had a hospital size unit with pure oxygen.
So after a 45 minute drive to the center, Tim would receive an hour
treatment, (as they were using 100% oxygen he had to take the hour off between
treatments and could only receive treatments for 20 days in a row and then take
at least a month off due to worries of oxygen toxicity), then receive another
hour of treatment. After 40
treatments in 20 days, he could walk much farther without his crutch.
Although he still fell often, his balance was definitely improved.
He went from standing for only 10-15 seconds to 1-2 minutes.
Another side benefit was he used to having a few times a day involuntary
shudders, these had gone completely away. We
really could not believe it!
Obviously with so much
success, we decided we had to try it again.
Unfortunately, since it required so much of a time commitment and my
husband and I both work, we had to wait until the next summer when Tim was out
of school so we could send him back up to his grandparents.
I was much more optimistic this time around but still wondered if it
would be possible to continue to gain additional functionality.
Again we saw huge improvements, after that round of treatments he gave up
using his crutch almost completely except on un-level ground and stand for up to
3 minutes at a time. We decided that
every summer from then on, Tim would be going to
Ohio
and we better plan for $4000 a year in treatment.
Before HBOT, I had been an inch away from giving up hope and was planning
on trying additional surgeries on Tim. I
was finally accepting he would never walk without a crutch.
After HBOT, he had thrown away the crutch and could stand independently
for 3 minutes at a time. This was
huge to Tim and to us. The hope was
back!
We had planned to send Tim up to
Ohio
during the summer of 2004. We hated
the fact that we had to wait that long to get him back into the sessions but did
not want him to miss school to get the treatment.
Then at a Cub Scout camping trip with Tim, one of our friends, remarked
on how well Tim was doing since the last time he had seen us at a camping trip.
He asked what we had done. Thinking
he had probably never heard about HBOT, I explained that over the last two
summers he had been receiving this untraditional treatment.
Luckily for me, he knew about your center and he pointed us to you.
I still cannot believe all of the time Kevin spent answering my questions
on how the in home chamber worked. I
was so scared after using this hospital size unit that we would be able to
handle it ourselves. To be honest, I
also could not believe that it would work as well.
However, after about 3 weeks of treatment, Tim went from standing for 3
minutes at a time up to 5 minutes. You
cannot imagine how important being able to stand independently is.
Of course, at that point, we bought one for our home.
We wanted to be able to give Tim consistent treatments for life instead
of once a year and only if we could afford it that year.
We did refinance our home to help us afford it but with the results we
have received over the last two years it is really worth it.
I really believe I would have put Tim through another surgery by now if
it was not for HBOT. We cannot say
enough about what it has done for Tim. Now
do not get me wrong, I still continue with therapy and other traditional
treatment options, but I definitely believe his progress is so much more
significant because of HBOT. And his
physical therapists believe it too. They
are now encouraging it for other patients of theirs.
I am so happy that we know have it at home and can give him consistent,
year-around treatment.
The other surprise for us (even though you told us it would help) is the
positive impact it has had on the rest of our family.
I have other sons that play a lot of sports and one with some
focus/behavior issues at school. They
both really enjoy using the chamber. The
one with behavior issues went from receiving the worst behavior scores to the
best everyday almost immediately upon starting treatment.
I used to have trouble sleeping and used to take Tylenol or Advil all the
time for headaches. About a month
after having the chamber at home, it dawned on me that wow not only was I
sleeping better I just was not using that stuff anymore.
I can tell you it has definitely also helped me in my work out regime.
I ran 5 out of 7 days a week for a year and could not run more than 2
miles at a time. I started using the
chamber and even though I had taken some time off of running, I was able to run
3.5 miles on the treadmill. I really
could not believe it. I thought I
would never run more than 2 miles at a time.
So now my older boys try to use it before their sporting events and
my husband and I before our tennis matches.
I find it helps my endurance level during the matches.
I am also glad that we spent so much time at your center before buying our
chamber. I would have bought the
mid-size unit initially. But then
when we realized how much we would use it and the whole family liked it, we
decided to get the larger size chamber. We
have 1-3 family members in it at a time, we do homework in it, we read books,
study flash cards and it is really comfortable.
Sometimes we fight over who gets to use it, occasionally even my older
boys fight to see who gets to go in with Tim.
So I cannot thank you enough for answering all of our questions on how the
home unit worked, discussing financial options for purchasing one and for just
being you. You two are amazing.
You really, truly care about the people that can benefit from these
chambers. I can see it in every
interaction you have with us as a family and our son Tim.
You have been so awesome to come out and visit us at our home to bring us
supplies and to make sure it is going well.
I just can’t believe your dedication.
It is awesome.
Thank you for everything!
Kathi Chandler
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Click
here to watch clips from Flip This House featuring a hyperbaric chamber
Click here to read article
about Sylvester Stallone and his
use of a hyperbaric chamber
during the filming of ROCKY BALBOA
Click here to see pictures of
Mike Ashley's Racecar with the
Autism Awareness Ribbon
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