Magic Matty!

Three times a week a young man walks Through Our Door and lights up the Heartwell office and gym! His name is Matthew and we all love his larger than life personality.

Matthew is thirteen and he has a Developmental Delay. When he was a baby, at only eight months of age, Matt had open heart surgery. 

At two and a half, he had a liver tumour removed. 

Matt now has high frequency hearing loss, speech difficulties and low muscle tone.

What having a Developmental Delay means for Matty is that when growing up, he was slower to reach normal growth milestones. This has now affected the way he moves, communicates, thinks, learns, and behaves with others. Yet despite all this Matty is a delight to be with.  He bounces through the Heartwell door ready for his session and with a huge smile on his face. 

Matty loves the exercise equipment and works hard on his skills particularly in basketball and footy (he is a mad Hawthorn fan).

Like other children, Matty will continue to learn but will take longer to acquire new skills. He will learn in a slightly different way, requiring skills to be broken down into smaller, simpler steps and having more repetition and practice.  

Matthew has a cheeky grin, infectious laugh and is constantly interested in everything going on around him. He loves to tell us about what he has been doing, particularly in his cooking classes at school. Often there is a tell tale sign left on his shirt that tells us he loves eating his food creations as well!

Matty has made great progress since being with us. His attitude to activity and involvement has changed for the better and so has his fitness levels. Matthew loves to challenge himself on the stationery bike, where he is convinced he can win the Tour de France.

Matty engages with all the Heartwell kids and loves to give us a big hug when he leaves.

Yes, there is some magic about Matty!

Matty today on the bike.  Peace 

The Prince of Wales meets Heartwell

Back in 2005 the Heartwell Foundation children and staff had the opportunity to meet Prince Charles the Prince of Wales.  Don’t ask how this opportunity presented itself, it would be too complicated to explain.  More than likely it was one of those situations where someone knew someone, who knew someone else, who thought it would work well.

And it did.

Picture the following group  all gathered on the main courts of the State Netball Centre.  Most importantly, seventy children from the Heartwell Foundation all with varying levels of physical and cognitive function, also a respective parent (or two and even grand parent if they had wangled it with us), a team of Heartwell staff and The Prince of Wales himself along with his large entourage.  That included all the media personnel following his tour and the massive security team that also was accompanying him.  It was a mixed bag of “pompous poms” and excited Australian children, all glad for the opportunity to miss an afternoon of school.

Our challenge was to set up an activity circuit where all the children could participate and have some fun.  We had to cater for the kids in wheelchairs, those on frames, those with poor balance and those who could not see.  All this had to appear to be running smoothly so that when His Royal Highness walked through it would look impressive and not like the mad scramble it really was!  HRH was supposed to be impressed by this Australian program which provides physical activity for children with disability.

Somehow we pulled it off and had lots of fun.  It was a great experience for us to meet someone so famous and the parents were excited too.  I don’t think the children were all that impressed by HRH (with all due respect to Prince Charles) for them, it was all about the fun.  

All except for one of our teenage boys, Nathan.  Fifteen years old, six feet tall with a developmental delay that allowed him to speak his mind and act on his impulses.  The Heartwell team had been given very strict protocol on approaching and speaking to HRH.  In fact it was only Scott, my fellow Director, who was given permission by the entourage to come within 3 metres of The Prince of Wales.  All this had been documented and discussed well before the day of the event.  All the staff and parents understood that this strict protocol must be adhered to.  Unfortunately we forgot to tell Nathan.  Unexpectedly he left his group, marched up to HRH and before the security could intervene thrust out his hand and said “ Hello Prince Charles, my name is Nathan-Welcome to Australia!”

Whereby Prince Charles took his hand and said “Thank you Nathan thank you”

It was a happy and memorable moment. 

Supporting Children with a Disability | Sharing Their Stories

Welcome to my first official blog.  This should be fun!  

For the last twenty odd years, I have had the pleasure of working with some amazing individuals who’s lives are not as easy as ours.  

These children have inspired and captivated me with their stories.  They are the reason that my partner Scott and myself created the Heartwell Foundation.  

Of course each child and their story is different. Some are sad, some happy, some angry, some nervous and timid.  Yet through all these, there has consistently been a common thread.  Courage and determination and the overwhelming desire to be “normal” and “just like everyone else”.

Of course everyone knows that it is not really possible for a child with say Cerebral Palsy or Spina Bifida or Prader Willi or Developmental Delay or Aquired Brain Injury or Paraplegia or Autism or Brain Tumors etc etc, to be “just like everyone else”.  

OR IS IT?

The need to be active and for movement is inherent in all of us.  To be physically fit and strong is a wonderful feeling.  To participate in a sport and game playing is lots of fun.  So too for children with disabilities.  Given the right opportunity and support I have watched so many of these children blossom.  Confidence is a wonderful thing.

Join me as I share some of the stories of the children who have walked through our door.