The Red Balloon Foundation has made a massive difference to little Ofentse’s life using Neurological Therapy and now they hope to help eight more children.
South Africa (09 September 2021) – The Red Balloon Foundation was founded in memory of little Maxim Harvie who would have turned 8-years-old next month. The foundation honours his memory by providing Neurological rehabilitation to underprivileged children.
Maxim was diagnosed with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and Cortical Visual Impairment shortly after his birth. Maxim’s mother Antoinette Harvie quickly found ways to make his life as comfortable as possible and went to the USA where she trained in the Anat Baniel Method of NeuroMovement.
Sadly, Maxim passed away from kidney failure on the 1st of September 2016, just a month before his 3rd birthday. Antoinette poured her grief into honouring Maxim by helping disadvantaged children. She used her NeuroMovement training to help others and launched the foundation in memory of her precious boy, Maxim.
Antoinette and her fellow Red Balloon Foundation team kicked off their 2021 fundraiser to honour Maxim for what would have been his 8th birthday. Their hope is to raise the funds needed to support 8 children with Neurological rehabilitation.
Neurological rehabilitation can aid children with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, ADD/ADHD, Stroke, Brain Injury, and Genetic Disorders.
Very often the disruption due to trauma, illness, genetic or metabolic condition, autism, or undiagnosed developmental disorders derails the brain from its spontaneous process of growing and learning. The Anat Baniel Method of NeuroMovement is a science-based approach that is very gentle, using movements and the 9 Essentials that help your child’s brain to wake up and grow, learn and evolve.
One of the Red Balloon Warriors that has benefitted from the Neurological rehabilitation is little Ofentse.
Ofentse’s mom was HIV positive, on antiretrovirals and had TB. She also drank for the first 4 months of her pregnancy. Ofentse was born with Microcephaly, has global developmental delays and is considered legally blind due to Cortical Visual Impairment. He also gets seizures daily.
Ofentse mom passed away when he was 8 months old and his dad was not able to look after him alone as he is studying and needs to work.
He is now with his wonderful foster family who is doing everything to find out how they can help him be the best he can be. They put an appeal out on Facebook for help as they have already adopted 4 children and need help to care for Ofentse.
“I would like to thank the Red Balloon Foundation for responding to my Facebook appeal – I felt at the time that I was drowning and was so scared that I had taken on more than I could cope with and therefore let both Dad and son down. You gave me hope at one of the scariest moments in my life; hope, not only for Ofentse, but in mankind and our country – for that I am forever thankful as without hope, I wouldn’t have the strength to have this adventure with Ofentse.
Angels are not only spirits, they are people like you who help and guide others in need. You stopped what you were doing and took the time to get involved in Ofentse’s life.
You are our angels in our time of need and we thank you sincerely for your selfless deed. You made a difference this week and taught us that there are no limits.” – Nicole, Ofentse’s Foster Mom
Ofentse is one of many children who have already benefitted from this therapy. Another eight children will benefit from the rehabilitation therapy this year thanks to the crowdfunding. The team have already reached the first of their funding milestones, a massive step towards making a difference. Now they hope to fully fund the crowdfund to support the children who need it most!
One child’s therapy for a year has already been fully funded. Seven more to go! If you would like to support this incredible cause, you can do so via their ‘Go Fund Me’ here.