Tag: Janu Swart

Janu`s story:

Janu Swart, from Klerksdorp, was born premature at 29 weeks. He had a birth weight of 1.29kg and thrived, but by the time he was 10 months old he could not sit on his own yet and seemed floppy. Janu was only diagnosed at the age of 3 with Cerebral Palsy, due to Periventricular Leukomalacia. In February 2017 he started having seizures, and was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Janu is now 5 years old, he has visual problems and gross motor skills are impaired. He still can’t sit by himself or walk, and remains on epilepsy medication. He is seeing an occupational therapist once a week, and his speech improved remarkably since having neuro-development therapy. 

Janu is in a school with a caretaker that goes with him and otherwise his mom takes care of him. He is attending a normal school because his speech improved so much, even though he struggles with writing and fine motor skills. It would be ideal for him to have a computer with a special keyboard to assist him in his learning process. 

Janu is using a walker but needs his own walker that can assist him with independent walking. To get to that point, he would have to get foot and ankle orthosis (afo’s), which the medical aid doesn’t fund. He will have to undergo botox for his legs in the near future, and might be a good candidate for selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery, which is only done in Cape Town or America.

Stem-cell therapy would also improve his gross motor skills and can make a big difference in his life. Another option is Hyberbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) which can improve spacticity in his legs. In the meantime he started with swimming therapy and is showing improvement.

Janu is such a friendly, happy child and gives everyone compliments. He is surely a CP warrior, constantly proving doctors wrong with his development. 

Fundraising for Janu Swart