We were lucky enough to be visited by the TabletopBattle crew the other week – Svein, Damon and the gang invaded Warlord HQ on a whistlestop tour of the UK in preparation for the UK Gathering.
If you haven’t yet checked-out their YouTube Channel – we can’t recommend it highly enough. They produce at least one Bolt Action Battle Report per week, with the promise of Beyond the Gates of Antares, Black Powder and much more on their way!
TabletopBattle have nurtured a friendly, helpful and supportive community for Bolt Action wargamers – and regularly run charity fundraising events for war veterans and those in need – they are a hugely generous and selfless, shining example – and there are many others who will attest to this.
However, Damon, his wife Silje, and – more specifically – their gorgeous daughter Emma find themselves in need… and are asking the community to rally-around and do whatever we can to help…
Damon – Emma was born in week 28 of the pregnancy, almost a full 3 months early – and was born with a small bleed in her brain which today, makes her legs, feet and hands spastic.
Her brain functions as it should in all other areas, and has found a way around the Cerebral Palsy allocated to her hands, which she can use very well, though sometimes you can see that she has problems with them.
The big issue is her legs and feet. She will most likely be able to walk at one point, but it will be with aids, and it will very likely be painful.
In Norway (where we live), the normal treatment for this is training, Botox injections or surgery to make her tendons longer. The problem being that as she can`t walk to begin with, the tendon surgery will unfortunately not help – so we have to look for other options…
Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) seems to be our best option – it is a surgery where they cut some of the nerves that connect the brain to the parts of the body that is affected (legs) and by doing that removing the signal that is sent to the legs, telling them to tighten.
This is however a very expensive surgery which is not done in Norway. The closest place that does it is in Lund, Sweden, but the ideal place would either be in the UK or in St.Louis where the worlds leading expert works (Dr.Parks)
I wouldn`t wish this experience on my worst enemy, a child should not know this pain, a child should play and be happy
John Stallard and the Warlord Games team have been extremely kind in offering their assistance in reaching-out – and we here at TabletopBattle are running a series of extra auctions along side our War Veteran auctions, to help raise money.
I know that the goal we have to reach to be able to afford this is insanely high at 35000 GBP but I really can`t aim for less since that is the cost of the surgery, and I am currently not able to work while I take care of Emma.
As much as I hate begging… I am begging, but not for me. For Emma.
Every donation which brings us closer to our goal helps massively – we’d like to thank each and every one of you in advance for whatever you can give – even if it’s simply spreading the word and sharing our cause.
If we don`t reach the goal we need to get the surgery or by some miracle Emma`s brain finds a way around the Spasticity, we will donate the money raised to another child with the same condition and/or Cerebral Palsy research
If anyone wants to contact me for anything, find me on Facebook or send me an
Email to damonandersen@hotmail.com
Thanks for reading.
Damon
To donate, read more, or to help share the message – please see the YouCaring.com page which Damon has set up – which can be found be clicking here.
