Hi, my name is Camilla,

I am a beautiful little girl, born on 27/01/07 in Desenzano del Garda (BS) by cesarean delivery because my mum's placenta broke.

I'd like to tell you my story.

My weight at birth was 3kg and 280gr. After three days in hospital, the doctors decided to keep me for four more days because my physiological weight loss was higher than normal and because they found that my encephalon was small.
After a series of tests, they finally sent me home and said: “Everything is ok!!” “You are perfectly well…..!!”
Once at home, I kept crying, day and night, and I ate and grew very little. Mum and dad decided to consult a few pediatricians and then they sent me to some specialized hospitals. Once again, I was told that there was nothing wrong with me, that I had colic and that maybe I was a spoiled little girl. My parents had to be patient and wait for me to gain weight.
At 5 months of age, I only weighed less than 4kg because I could not drink any kind of milk. Finally, I tried the anti-reflux milk and I felt a bit better; I cried less but I did not grow!!!
In May, during a weekend I spent with my mum at my grandparents, I had a flu and they took me to a new pediatrician, who visited me and said that my growth was not normal, my posture was not right, I could not catch objects and I could not keep my head up. Something was not as it should be.
The doctor sent us to another specialist and told my mum to take me to a child neuropsychiatrist.
It was then that mum and dad were told the terrible news, i.e. that I suffer from psychomotor retardation and I have spastic tetraparesis with muscular hyptertone.
If they do not find a solution soonest, I will spend the rest of my life on a wheelchair.
We have already consulted all possible specialists and gone to all the hospitals that deal with this type of problem.  Nobody could give us an answer!!
Nobody can tell me why I live this situation, nobody can tell me why I do not have a chance to be like all the other children, who can take their first steps and fill their parents with joy when they say their first words…
Now I am 15- months old, I weigh only 7 kg, I cannot sit, I cannot hold my head up, I cannot catch objects and I cannot walk. I am tired and scared at the thought that I will have to undergo other endless tests.. they have taken blood samples from all over my body and tests have often been very painful … With no result at all…
Now I am at the Besta Hospital, in Milan, where they have already told me that probably they will not find the origin of my problem and, worst of all, that there is no treatment for it.
I heard that there could be a hope in the United States, at the OCEAN HYPERBARIC NEUROLOGIC CENTER (www.oceanhbo.com) in Lauderdale by the SEA in FLORIDA, where they treat patients with an Oxigen Therapy, associated with an intensive pediatric therapy (www.therapies4kids.com). This treatment stimulates and reactivates atrophied or dormant cells (1 or 2 hours a day, 5 days a week), and together with full time physiotherapy (4 hours a day, 5 days a week) leads to remarkable improvement in cases like mine…
The biggest problem is that this kind of treatment costs a lot, about 18,000$ a month.
I do not know how long it will take me to complete the treatment, because if I react positively to it, I will have to continue as long as I get the maximum recovery.
Please, help me make my dream come true, together with my mum and dad. I want to try and be like all the other children, to run after a ball, catch it and then smile my sweetest smile.

A big kiss and thank you

Iannaccone Camilla