A specialist tablet gave Andre his voice back
Only a year ago, my son Andre was working at Lotus, he had a fiancé and he was looking forward to the rest of his life.
Now, at 23, he needs 24-hour care. It started off when he began struggling to get words out and his behaviour was changing, I knew something wasn’t right.
After a slew of tests and scans, we had some news in June that nearly broke us.
He was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. I had known something was wrong, but to get this news was devastating. Andre was always the life and soul of the party, he was very cheeky, but now his life is completely different. He is no longer able to speak. He couldn’t tell us how he was feeling or what he wanted.
He was such a loving boy, he always told us he loved us. We lost that. It was heart breaking to think we would never hear those words from him again.
Andre started going to FitzRoy’s day service at the Maltings which has transformed his life and given us, his family, so much support. I know he is happy, he is with friends, he is safe, and he absolutely loves it. The FitzRoy team have been working with Andre to see how they can replace some of the things he has lost as his condition continues to progress and did lots of research into what would meet Andre’s needs.
His communication tablet has been a gamechanger. Giving Andre his voice back was most important to us all.
A specialist tablet has done this for us. It is an expensive piece of equipment, which we would not have been able to afford, so we are so thankful to everyone who has donated to FitzRoy’s Above and Beyond Fund which funded the tablet.
This device has been lifechanging for us. Within hours of receiving the tablet Andre was pressing pictures, choosing his food and making choices about how he wants to spend his time for the first time in over a year.
But most importantly of all, Andre was able to say “I love you” using his tablet. It was a moment I will never forget. We have got back something so precious to us, in the midst of such devastation.
So many more lives could be improved, like Andre’s. So, I ask you to consider doing something special again this Christmas and support FitzRoy’s Above and Beyond Fund to help more families like mine.
With thanks and festive wishes,
Sam (Andre’s mum)