Tina Pearsall is participating in the Great Walk from Gold River to Tahsis today for kids who can't. She is raising money for North Island Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy 4 Kids(HBOT 4 Kids), which helps send children with cerebral palsy from Campbell River to Vancouver for the hyperbaric oxygen treatments.
Each treatment costs $100 and the child may need up to 200 treatments to see a significant difference. The government doesn't pay for the treatments because no long-term studies have been done to show what the results are. The theory is the treatments "wake up" the dormant brain cells in kids with cerebral palsy. Divers who get the "bends" and athletes with injuries already use the therapy.
Candie Dunsmore, who has spearheaded the group in Campbell River, has taken her daughter McKayla for two sessions and intends to go back for a third in the near future.
McKayla, who is a student at Oyster River Elementary, is still able to do these things even though she hasn't had a treatment since September. Her mom is hoping to go back for more treatments soon, with another mother and her son.
But HBOT 4 Kids only raises the money for the treatments and not the cost of transportation, and the other mom is a single parent on social assistance. Dunsmore wants to split the cost of transportation and accommodations which amounts to $700 each, so they are asking for the public's help in raising the money for the other family. To make a pledge call Dunsmore at 923-2662.