👏 We're on the home straight of our 2024 STEPtember campaign and feeling fit and fulfilled after all the activity and fundraising this month to support people with cerebral palsy. Please use this link for final donations to EDL’s fundraising: https://lnkd.in/gm5Ed4PZ 🏃♀️ Led by our Senior Legal Counsel, Amanda Dodds, EDL has been supporting STEPtember since 2018 and has already raised more than $200,000 and recorded over 122 million ‘steps’ of activity. 💰 We'll have new figures to share once this month’s fundraising has been finalized, including dollar matching from EDL. 👩⚕️ Earlier this month Amanda wrote an inspiring post about the support her own CP treatment journey has received from STEPtember fundraising, and the motivation it gives her to keep campaigning to help with the discovery of new treatments and preventative strategies. Please take a moment to read Amanda’s story.
STEPtember is on NOW and all funds raised go to a fabulous cause - the support of adults and kids with cerebral palsy. I participate because I have mild CP - those of you who know me will know that I'm not keen on talking about me and my CP but for a fabulous cause like this one, it's time I spoke up! For me, the use of STEPtember funds to discover new treatments and preventative strategies are incredibly motivating. This year, I've benefited from this research with a new treatment approach for my CP. In June, I had Botox injected in my right bicep (not in my face wrinkles despite begging the neurosurgeon to dump the leftovers between my eyebrows!). My fabulous OT, Jean Clow at Queensland Rehabilitation Specialists, then slapped a pretty blue cast on my arm to see if we could straighten my arm while my bicep is asleep. After a week in the blue cast, the results were so fabulous that we went again with a racier red cast! After two weeks in these casts, the angle of my right arm has gone from 46 degrees to just 15 degrees! After a lifetime of elbow crookedness, I reckon that qualifies as Pretty Damn Straight! I've now got a lighter thermoplastic zip-on 'Turtle Brace' that I wear at night to maintain the Right Arm Straightedness. The 'Turtle Brace' is relatively new technology in Australia. Technologies like these and gains like mine, are only possible due to dedicated researchers and inspirational OTs like Jean, who always need our help with funding. So please dig deep and donate if you can. The smallest donation is appreciated - click here for my fundraising page - https://lnkd.in/gYCjEvrM While I'm here, a massive shout out to Geoff Corner and my stepping colleagues at EDL who have jumped on board to support MY favourite cause again - you're all officially fabulous. An extra special thank you to James Harman and the ELT for pledging to dollar match the fundraising of all 2024 EDL steppers, and to Carla Young, Kester Hubbard and Amanda Curtis for all your help with getting the show on the road this year 👏 👏 👏 STEPtember