By NATALIE GALLENTI
THE close-knit Caroline Springs and Burnside community has once again banded together to raise desperately needed funds for a tiny toddler suffering from a mystery condition.
Little Mia Wellington’s parents Paul and Jaclyn were told when she was only 18 months old that their daughter had global developmental delay – a disorder which refers to a delay in two or more important areas of development including motor skills, speech and language skills, academic skills, learning ability, social and emotional skills and self-help skills.
The Burnside Heights couple told Star they first took Mia to a pediatrician after noticing she was not reaching her milestones like their eldest child Seth. After an MRI, blood test and urine test, doctors did not have a diagnosis for the worried and frustrated parents and said there were no medical concerns for Mia, who still does not walk or talk, and said she suffered from a developmental delay.
This left both Paul and Jaclyn with more questions than answers.
“It was just more frustrating not having a prognosis … we have turned every stone,” Paul said.
“We have seen neurologists, geneticists, developmental pediatricians … but there is no label for Mia, no syndrome.”
However the family has not given up hope and with early intervention and the intensive home therapy program of elite sport and exercise psychologist Chad Timmermans, Mia is improving in leaps and bounds.
But because there is no medical explanation for Mia’s delay, there is limited government funding available to the family, leaving them struggling with the high costs of regular hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, speech pathology and chiropractic therapies.
As pediatrician Dr Jo Martin wrote on Mia’s website, the fact that there is no medical explanation for the delay means the family does not know her long-term outcome or the amount of treatment she will require.
“Mia is a gorgeous three-year-old girl who has global developmental delay. In essence this means that she is delayed in all aspects of her development and has a range of specialists and allied health professionals involved in her care,” Dr Martin wrote.
“We have been unable to find a medical cause for her delay, which is difficult for her parents Paul and Jaclyn, because it is difficult to give a picture of her long-term outcome, although it is likely she will require long-term therapy and care to help her achieve her potential.”
To help the struggling family, both the Caroline Springs and Burnside Heights community came together and last month raised close to $56,000. Paul said a group of devoted family and friends dubbed “Team Mia” launched the fund-raising event with all proceeds raised going towards Mia’s intensive treatment.
“We were overwhelmed and we’re still coming to grips with the generosity of people.”
Anyone interested in donating or learning more about Mia’s condition can visit her website www.miawellington.com or the Mia Wellington Facebook page.
