Palmer's Garden
Palmer's Garden
Palmer, a vibrant and determined young boy, has faced extraordinary challenges since birth. Due to a brain injury at birth, he lives with dyskinetic cerebral palsy, which affects his entire body. Palmer experiences uncoordinated, jerky movements, chronic pain, and muscle spasms, requiring extensive therapies, medical interventions, and support. Despite being wheelchair-bound and reliant on assistive devices for communication, Palmer's love for life and determination inspire everyone around him.
Eating is one of Palmer's biggest challenges. The muscles for swallowing and drinking are uncoordinated, making it difficult and sometimes dangerous. Meals can take up to three hours, and as he tires, his coordination worsens. To ensure proper nutrition and medication management, Palmer now has a PEG feeding tube directly into his stomach. This has allowed him to gain weight and eat small amounts of food for enjoyment rather than necessity. He also works closely with a Speech Therapist for feeding and a Dietician to manage his health.
Palmer's life revolves around constant therapies and appointments.
From physiotherapy at Healthy Strides, which he loves, to speech and occupational therapy, orthopaedic care, and respiratory management for his sleep apnoea, his schedule is full. He wears AFOs for support and will undergo major spine surgery in January 2025 to address scoliosis that impacts his breathing and comfort. Despite all this, Palmer remains positive and excited about life.
One of Palmer's greatest joys is gardening with his dad. It's both therapeutic and fun, but accessing the garden has become more challenging as he grows.
The Build Now Foundation is creating a custom accessible garden where Palmer can enjoy planting and caring for his favourite plants directly from his wheelchair or walking frame. This space will allow Palmer to nurture his passion while connecting with his family and the world around him.
This garden is more than just a project, it's a lifeline for Palmer to continue thriving, growing, and sharing his incredible spirit. Together, we can help Palmer build his dream garden, creating a place of independence, creativity, and joy for years to come.
Gallery
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The number of donations
A word from the family
Build Now Foundation is everything kind, caring, generous and loving. They have created a community so special that I really can't describe just how beautiful it is.
When your dream is to go out and seek people that need help or need some kind of happiness and create that one special thing for those people just to see that persons and their families happiness is special.
Palmers accessible garden is more than we ever dreamed thanks to Build Now Foundation. To watch the build from beginning to end was amazing. We got to see everyone involved from preparing the earth at the beginning to the final plant going in at the end with all the amazing volunteers at the big reveal. A very special moment that only a very special organisation can create.
As Palmers mother and primary carer, I knew this would bring so much joy to his life. Because I am fighting my own health and cancer battles and a battle that I quite possibly might lose this time, Build Now Foundation decided to speed up the process to give us time to enjoy Palmers garden together as a family and create some everlasting memories. I am so grateful for that. We have definitely been enjoying Palmers beautiful garden space together picking herbs and veggies, keeping them alive lol, watching plants grow and just letting Palmer get his hands dirty. We have enjoyed more salads and it has been fun sharing crops with friends and family.
Community spirit created out of pure love and kindness is the greatest thing I will remember from our experience with Build Now Foundation. We are looking forward to being able to give back to this amazing community and be a part of the magic.
Love always Palmer, Bailey, Toby, Les and Amanda💖
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