Therapy Triumphs: MEET NOLAN
For nearly three years, Nolan has been building abilities at Capper Foundation taking part in Speech-Language, Occupational and Physical therapies. Now at age four he has made incredible strides in his expressive and receptive language skills, sound and speech production, creeping, crawling, walking, using a pincer grasp, improving dexterity and unassisted eating. His mother, Amanda, shared with us about his journey:
Nolan is active in everything he does. I chase him everywhere. He has a twin sister Gabriela, and they keep me busy.
He was born with Down Syndrome. And he also had a heart defect. He was in the NICU for four weeks here in Topeka. And then he was transferred to Children’s Mercy by ambulance and was there for two weeks where he had a G-Tube placed in his stomach. When I found out Nolan was going to have Down Syndrome, I was completely shocked, scared and overwhelmed. I’ve never met a child with Down Syndrome before. I knew no matter what, you know, we were going to have Nolan and he was going to change our world. But the heart defect I think scared me more than anything because I didn’t know what to expect.
He had open heart surgery at six months old, and we had a lot of complications, unfortunately. So we ended up being there for about a month. It was an unreal time, honestly. But he finally came home and has been making strides ever since.
Capper has done an amazing job. Just watching him go from being able to sit to then stand and then walk with his walker. I mean, he had that walker for a while. And when he took those first few steps, I mean, we celebrate those little things huge in our house.
I’m very thankful for their patience. They have touched him, me — my entire family — in a way I could never fully express. I don’t think Nolan would be where he is right now without them. I have learned a lot from Nolan. The biggest thing is to never judge a book by its cover — to know that any single person in this world can do anything they put their little minds to. He has completely changed our lives.
When a child or adult with disabilities faces extra challenges, the loved ones and care givers in their lives face a lot of uncertainty. Support for Capper Foundation gives the families we serve hope for a brighter future. It means the world to us and the families we serve to help people like Nolan achieve pivotal goals and gain independence.