Levi and Lucas’ story
The twins need help with their all their basic care, i.e. brushing their teeth, feeding and managing their many medications. Both are very mobile, but they have no sense of danger, which means they require constant supervision.
Variety first came into the boys’ lives when they used a Sunshine Coach at their previous school. Their parents discovered that the charity did so much more, so in 2017 they applied for multi-sensory equipment.
The equipment Variety funded has helped greatly with the boys’ development, and they love it to this day. The bubble tubes, lights and sensory items create a place of calm after the twins have had a seizure or a ‘meltdown’.
Children like Levi and Lucas really benefit from having access to specialist equipment like this in the home environment. However, it can cost thousands of pounds which makes it out of reach for many families.
Thanks to Variety’s intervention, things that weren’t possible for the boys before are proving to be possible now. They can interact and play with the equipment that is designed to meet their needs, they have learnt new social skills and they know where they can go when they need to be calm. Both boys have developed fine motor skills and the art of taking turns.
As for the future, the family’s dreams are to continue to develop the boys’ independence. They hope that over time the boys’ epilepsy will improve too, as it has controlled their lives for far too long.
The twins’ parents sum up their feelings as follows: “We wouldn’t change our boys for the world, but we would change the world for children like our boys!”