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A helping hand for Jessica and family

14 August 2008

EQUIPMENT GIVES YOUNGSTER SOME FUN AND ALLOWS PARENTS A BREAK

A helping hand for Jessica and family YOUNG Jessica Finley ’s disability presents a great deal of challenges to her and her family. The five-year-old suffers from cerebral palsy and sensory problems which mean many everyday tasks are a massive struggle.

But the Chronicle’s Sunshine Fund has lent a helping hand to the family, from Walwick Avenue, North Shields, by buying the youngster a specially adapted sandpit and see-saw.

It has meant Jessica can play with her 10-month-old sister Amber and allows her parents to get a break from her exhausting care. Jessica often finds herself frustrated as she is unable to use a lot of the play equipment other children enjoy and always requires adult supervision. Dad Michael, 34, and mum Beverley, 28, believe that the new equipment will allow her to take part in the play she often misses out on. Michael said: “ Jessica has a very bad walking disability and is in a wheelchair. “She has no speech and has difficulty understanding what people are saying to her. We’ve just found out she has sensory problems too, which means when we do stuff like brush her hair she’ll scream. “I think she’ll benefit a lot from having the sandpit because we can wheel her out there when she comes in from school and it’s a way of entertaining her.”

Jessica normally attends Woodlawn Special School in Monkseaton and is attending Percy Hedley School over the six weeks’ holiday, thanks to funding from the Sunshine Fund. However, the family receive no respite care and admit Jessica ’s care is very time-consuming. But Michael says the sandpit allows himself and Beverley a chance for a break. “The sandpit has been specially adapted so she can sit over it in her wheelchair without adult supervision. It means we can get a break when she is playing,” he said.


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