Help Keira have a better life

By Dilip Kuner

THE mother of cerebral palsy sufferer Keira Alvarez Turner is doing a sponsored head shave to raise funds for desperately-needed specialist treatment for her daughter.

Keira, from Finestrat, who is six-and-a-half years old, needs €15,000 to travel to the US for the specialist care which makes a huge difference to the quality of her life.

Last year, Euro Weekly News reported on her need for funds, and generous readers along with the Moraira Charity Shop, Original Charity Shop Javea, Eurochange and Liars Bar rallied round to raise the thousands of euros needed for treatment within just a few days. That money was spent on treatments in Spain in 2013.

Now she has booked a third trip to Orlando for August 2015, and is launching her fundraising effort with a sponsored head shave at Benidorm’s Levis Showboat bar on Wednesday, November 12, at around midnight.

Debbie explained that she has had to put off fundraising for Keira this year as she needed to devote time to her son, Rylee, four, who has autism. “Fundraising takes up so much time, and I just had to give my attention to Rylee as he was having schooling problems. So, unfortunately, 2014 was the first year since 2010 that Keira did not have intensive therasuit therapy.

“But now it is Keira’s turn again. She is doing amazingly well. We have recently changed her epilepsy medications and she is way more active. She still has seizures but this is a forever thing unfortunately.

“We have been keeping up with her weekly therapy and doing lots with her in the house. Keira is now able to creep up to stand against the sofa, which is a huge step, has more hand function when using her iPad to paint or play memory.”

Debbie added: “Doing Hyperbaric/ intensive therapy combined is a huge opportunity; we did both in 2012 and the outcome was amazing. There are no intensive therapy places in Spain that have Hyperbaric chambers near them and all the Hyperbaric chambers in Europe are shared tanks unlike in Orlando when Keira is in the tank on her own. The price of the intensive therasuit is $7,000 and another treatment, hbot, is $6,600 for a three-week session. We hope to raise €15,000 to pay for treatments, flights and accommodation,” Debbie explained.