I thought for those of you who do not know my background, I ought to fill you in, as the formation of

Snowdrop and my own past are intimately intertwined. I was the father of a child who suffered with
profound brain injuries, which caused a mixture of symptoms, - some of quadriplegic cerebral
palsy and some of autism, although neither of those diagnoses did justice to the true nature and
severity of his brain injuries! Unfortunately, Daniel passed away seven years ago, suffering a series
of brainstem strokes. We always knew that for someone with his level of disability, the length of his
life would be severely limited, but unfortunately, knowing that something is going to hurt, doesn't
actually stop it hurting when it happens!

Daniel was born at the North Staffordshire Maternity Hospital in Stoke –On – Trent on the 4 th
September 1987 and within a few short weeks was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. We were
warned by the paediatrician that the fact he was able to make such an early diagnosis indicated a
high degree of severity of the condition. – He was not wrong and within a few weeks it became
clear that I would be forced to give up my work as a chemist in the ceramics industry, in order to
help my wife, Janet look after him. - Daniel rarely slept; - he could stay awake for days and nights
on end. This was an impossible situation for my wife to deal with alone and soon she was
struggling to cope, whilst I went out to work.

Although in the early months of Daniel’s life, I was largely at home, helping with his care, I became
increasingly interested in Daniel's problems and in child development in general, so I decided to
enrol for a university degree in psychology / child development at our local college of higher
education, which is part of Manchester University. The structure of my chosen courses meant that
I only had to be on campus part of the time, so I was still largely available to help with Daniel's
care. Three years later I passed my degree with upper second class honours, my final dissertation
being on the subject of 'Programmes of rehabilitation and their effects upon brain - injured children
and their families.'

The three years of my degree studies paid off in more than one way, - not only did they foster in
me a greater understanding of the difficulties Daniel faced, they also highlighted some useful
techniques which we could employ in treating some of those difficulties; some of these techniques
really had an impact upon his quality of life. My success in my studies also further fuelled my
interest in this field and so I enrolled on further courses, eventually gaining post graduate
qualifications in ‘child development,’ 'language and communication impairments in children,' and
ultimately an MSc based in neuroscience and child development. I was also fortunate to be
involved in several research projects such as the construction of neural networks to mimic
cognitive processes in children, the design and employment of sociocultural learning programmes
with children who experience learning difficulties and the design and employment of various
communication techniques for children who experience language and communication difficulties.

My studies at university also opened my eyes to alternative therapeutic interventions which were
available and consequently, over time, we not only travelled the globe to seek help for Daniel's
difficulties from these approaches, but I was given the opportunity to study at various clinics. We
studied and employed alternatives at clinics in the UK and internationally. Unfortunately we found
many of these alternatives to be employed by people who were generally under-qualified and who
were sometimes asking for huge quantities of money in exchange for rehabilitation techniques
which were based upon erroneous and easily disprovable theories of brain function and child
development. Indeed one founder of such a clinic where we took our son, is still in jail for fraud!

Although throughout his lifetime, Daniel remained very severely handicapped, our efforts at helping
him were far from fruitless. At birth, Daniel was cortically blind and deaf. This meant that although
his eyes and ears were working normally, his brain was not interpreting the sensory information,
which they were collecting. However, gradually through our utilisation of various techniques, which
we devised as a consequence of my studies, we were able to restore both his vision and his
hearing, to the absolute amazement of his doctors. This may sound small beer in the global
picture of overwhelming global handicap, but for Daniel it meant that he could now see his parents;
- that he could see, hear and begin to interact with his two younger brothers. – This revolutionised
Daniel’s whole being.

Sadly, Daniel passed away seven years ago next month. We miss him terribly and there will
always be a massive hole in our lives. How do you get over the death of a child? However, the
snowball of enthusiasm and interest, which he created in me, - interest in helping to solve the
problems many children face, rolls on.

Using all of the knowledge, which my son passed to me, (despite all my qualifications and research
experience, he remains my most astute tutor), I have established 'Snowdrop.’ Snowdrop provides
programmes of neuro-cognitive stimulation for children who suffer neuro-developmental problems.
Those problems may express themselves as more global difficulties such as cerebral palsy or
autism, or more specific difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, or specific language impairment.
Treatment is carried out by the family in the child's own home.

Although Snowdrop is based in the UK, we are also having quite an appeal internationally, with
families following our programme from as far away as Australia, the US, India and Europe. All we
want to do is to be of service to children and their families. In this way, Daniel’s life and everything
he taught me about brain injury and the developmental problems children face will have not been
wasted.