Kate! Thank you! Here are some of her incredible photos of our family. Give her some support on facebook or instagram @katevickeryphotography. (If you have someone with special needs in your family, trust Kate to capture your family's love.) This is what she wrote about us, which is as lovely as her photos: Meet Dexter and his family. Dexter's beautiful mum, Lenice, contacted me after hearing about the sessions I offer to families that have some special needs... my Shine Sessions. These guys are an amazing little unit. From the minute I met them on the afternoon of the session I felt right at home in their company. They are relaxed, fun loving and so incredibly united in their love and support for Dexter. The bond between each of these family members is something that many of us aspire to. Dexter has Cerebral Palsy, Vision Impairment, and he also battled liver cancer in 2012....this little man is more than the superhero his sisters dressed him as for this photo session..... I'm not sure what you call someone stronger than a Superhero other than by his name....Dexter. There are two little sisters that are a huge, noisy (their words) part of his life. They are fun loving, compassionate and quirky. They have a beautiful bond with their big brother, and as a sibling of a sister with special needs, I know that these girls will grow up to be two very compassionate, caring, understanding, open minded young women.... they will make their family so incredibly proud and will be such strong advocates for their brother, and also for others in similar circumstances. Head over to the Kate Vickery Photography website or facebook page. She is on instagram, too. Give her a cheer, look at her photos and perhaps you will book her for a photo session, too.
Mobile: +61 424 333 763 Email: [email protected] Today was a special day. Today we recognised our ANZACs, past and present. Today, I did my first Anzac Day march. I walked with my school and wore my great grandfather's medals. His name was Jack. I was very proud to march with my dad. Dad's grandmother gave him the medals and I was the first person to wear them. Jack passed away before he could wear the medals. I was proud to wear them. **We covered the other student's faces, to respect their privacy.
When Wheelchair Stops Being a Dirty Word I’m a Kindy Kid! Dexter's 2013 Dexter's First Month Dexter's Vision Dexter's Cerebral Palsy Dexter's Cancer Who is Dexter? Return to Home page Find me on: facebook twitter instagram youtube Have you seen Speechless? We love it! When we first saw this show, Mum decided this was her goal for our family. She wanted to be like the DiMeo family. And then, we watched more episodes. The more we watch, the more we can relate to the DiMeo family! We are already like them. The DiMeos have three children and one has cerebral palsy. He is nonverbal and in a wheelchair. He attends mainstream high school and uses a communication board. His eyes focus on words on the board and someone reads the words for him. Often, when a character has a disability, the actor doesn't. Or, the actor has a mild form of the disability but the character has a more severe form. Often, characters in a wheelchair are played by actors who can walk. At first, we were so impressed with the sounds JJ, the character with cerebral palsy, made. Those noises sounded just like my sounds! We loved the movements of JJ, because they were so real and so like my movements. We love that the role of JJ is played by Micah Fowler, an actor with cerebral palsy. Micah does need his wheelchair. He is nonverbal and does use a communication board. Micah can speak. His speech is sometimes slow, but he can speak. Micah has just done a fitness challenge, against another actor with cerebral palsy. He does physiotherapy, like me. He works hard at his walking, like me. This show could be about me. When Mum and Dad watch Speechless, they always watch it with me. Sometimes, there are sad bits, but mostly, this show is very funny, very real and a little bit cheeky. The mum's character is played by Minnie Driver. She is awesome. She's fiery and fierce. She comes up swinging and she doesn't take no for an answer. And then, she can be sad and disappointed. And always, she loves her kids. Mum's like that. Usually, it is the mum who goes to all of the appointments. It's usually the mum who arranges things, orders equipment, books therapists and deals with the daily stares and comments. The dads are usually at work, to make the money to pay for the equipment and therapies. JJ's mom is just like my mum. Perhaps JJ's mom is a little bolder, but JJ is older than me. JJ is a bit cheeky! He has fun at a school dance, flirts with the girls at his school, annoys his siblings and is learning to give the bird when people stare at him. I want to be like him. There have been some complaints about this show, from people with disabilities. But, we love it! Every episode has so many things we can relate to. This is our life! And, Speechless portrays the everyday challenges and difficulties in a realistic way, while emphasising the humour that comes with a life of severe cerebral palsy. (If you don't laugh, you'll cry.) We can't wait to see what the DiMeos and JJ get up to next! Watch the Official Speechless trailer: Go to the Speechless website to watch episodes of this great show. Follow Micah Fowler and Speechless on instagram. Oh, and Mum wants to change our van's number plates to She Nutz! When Wheelchair Stops Being a Dirty Word
They Want Octopus Arms Little Fingers Reaching Something to Say But No Words to Say It And Then, They Whispered about Me I’m a Kindy Kid! Dexter's First Month Dexter's Vision Dexter's Cerebral Palsy Dexter's Cancer Return to Home page Find me on: facebook twitter instagram youtube I had the swimming pool all to myself, today! Well... ok, I let Ron share it with me! I was super chatty. I like that Ron talks back to me. He joins my conversations, even if he doesn't really know what I am talking about. We have fun conversations! He's a good man. Check out the day I went Surfing with Ron
Dexter's First Month Dexter's Vision Dexter's Cerebral Palsy Dexter's Cancer Who is Dexter? Return to Home page Find me on: facebook twitter instagram pinterest youtube We were lucky enough to have a photo shoot in a beautiful location. Our photographer was Kate Vickery. She takes newborn photos, maternity shots and family portraits. She also does 'Shine' sessions. Kate's Shine sessions are for families who have someone with special needs. Kate's sister has Angelman's Syndrome. She has very few family photos from her childhood. When she asked her mum about it, her mum explained that with her disabilities, Kate's sister might not have smiled at the camera. Having so few family photos made Kate sad. As a professional photographer, she noticed she rarely got asked to photograph families with someone who has special needs. She noticed no other photographers seemed to have many photos of people with disabilities. And, she wanted to change that. Kate wants everyone to have beautiful family photos, whether there is a disability in the family or not. From Kate's website: These sessions will be called "Shine Sessions" in the hopes to shine a light on photography for those with special needs. My aim is to also raise money, while raising awareness... every little bit counts. 75% of the session fee, and a portion of the print sales will go to the charity that is the closest to your heart (you just need to let me know which one.) Family members can also book a Shine Session, and take advantage of donating to a cause, and getting some beautiful photos while they're at it. The Shine sessions will generally allow for any special considerations that may need to be made, to take into account the health, safety, happiness and well being of all involved. As these families generally have higher needs, these sessions work around your time frames. ~ We are able to have several meet and greets in the lead up to the day of your session, to plan the finer details and to create a familiarity with me. ~ Unlimited session times. This is to allow for a very relaxed, slow paced session to make sure everyone is comfortable and to allow time for any medical treatments, medication breaks, rests or meal times. Getting good photos of me takes a lot of time. (And, dozens of attempts!) My cerebral palsy means I have trouble smiling. My smile doesn't look like most smiles. I often have trouble keeping my head still and usually can't 'look' at the camera. I often have trouble keeping my head up, too. Working with Kate was amazing. Everyone felt so relaxed. She didn't care what we wore, and my Noisy Sister chose our clothes. Kate played with the girls and made them feel safe. She also let them play with her cameras, checking out all of the photos of themselves. She made sure there were photos of all of us, in all combinations; just the girls, the girls and Mum, the girls and Dad, Mum and I, Dad and I, the three kids and all of us together. She was amazing with me. She cheered for me, when I was standing and she was proud when I held my head up... So, I tried even harder to listen to her. We didn't know Kate before this. Now, we think she is amazing and we love her Shine Sessions idea. If you are in the Illawarra and have been afraid to get family portraits, because someone has a disability and might not want to sit and smile, contact Kate Vickery Photography. Kate chased after my sisters, following their lead, playing hide and seek and being so patient. She made me feel proud. And, from the few photos we saw on her camera, we know she got some truly beautiful photos. We will definitely share some of them with you. Until then, head over to the Kate Vickery Photography website or facebook page. She is on instagram, too. Give her a cheer, look at her photos and perhaps you will book her for a photo session, too. Mobile: +61 424 333 763 Email: [email protected] Thank you, Kate!
When I was four, I learned to laugh. I still don't laugh everyday. Sometimes, it might be weeks between laughs. My cerebral palsy makes its tricky for me to laugh. But, a year ago, I started laughing and I couldn't stop. I laughed for over 14 hours. Straight. We were actually worried and in talks with my paediatrician. He gave us an emergency appointment. He said it might be a gelastic seizure. Back then, we were talking about a possible brain tumour, one that causes constant laughter. Usually, my family loves the sound of my laughter. A year ago, they silently made eye contact, over my head, and share worried thoughts. This was a bad day. We didn't tell you this, back then, because we were protecting everyone from our fears. Eventually, the constant laughter stopped. Now, we think I had learned to laugh, but I didn't know how to stop. A year later, the laughter makes us smile, again. Don't mess with me - I'm the Hulk!
We went to the Sydney Royal Easter show, today. It's a bit of a tradition. My dad has always been to the Easter show. He has only ever missed one year, since he was little! We had a great day. We really liked watching the guys from #showtimefmx do their bike and ute stunts. They were so noisy! I love it. We sat in the front row and got covered in dust! They did some really cool tricks on their motorbikes. They did flips and spins and jumps and the utes drove really close to the walls. And then, we got to hi-5 them at the end. Mum helped me hold my hand out to them. That was cool. We went to meet them after their show. My wheelchair couldn't quite get to them, because of a step. They saw that and they all came out to say hi and to give us another hi-5! They were really lovely. Thank you! My littlest sister liked flirting with them! That was a fun day! Check out the Showtime FMX facebook page here.
Instagram @showtimefmx When Wheelchair Stops Being a Dirty Word About the Sisters My Sister is Four I’m a Kindy Kid! Dexter's 2013 Dexter's First Month Dexter's Vision Dexter's Cerebral Palsy Dexter's Cancer Who is Dexter? Return to Home page Find me on: facebook twitter instagram pinterest youtube Chocolate for breakfast!
We had a fun Easter egg hunt. Happy Easter to you all! |
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