Meet Dani

Dani is a smiling, curious and mild boy who loves to be with his family and especially to play with his older brother Elmin. They play with cars, balls, and build towers out of bricks. Elmin builds the tower and Dani pushes them over which makes both boys smile. Dani also loves ice cream and bathing, so the family often travels to warm countries, where they can experience new places and relax by the pool or go to the beach.

Dani had a rough start in life. Only two days old he had his first epileptic seizure and during the first two months of his life he had many and very severe seizures. The epileptic seizures were due to a very rare genetic disease which causes the affected children to develop epilepsy at a very young age. The children also have a high risk of being very delayed in their gross motor development and many will never gain the motor milestones of independent sitting, crawling, or walking. Dani is doing very well according to his gross motor development. He can sit independently on the floor with support from his arms. His curiosity brings him around the house in a combination of moving forward on his stomach and scooting on his buttocks. When doing standing transfers Dani can have full weightbearing on his legs for shorter periods of time.

The Wombat Living provides Dani with support by the feet, the lower legs, the pelvis area, and the torso. Dani is hypotonic which affects both the lower and upper extremities and his postural control. He tends to slide forward with his pelvis while seated, but this is minimised with a contoured seat and a Y-hip belt. With guidance he can move back into the seat again. The contoured upper back cushions provide support for his upper body when he engages in activities that requires a lot of his fine motor skills or when he starts to get tired. Dani is very active with his legs while sitting. The hip supports guide his thighs to stay in place on the seat, while he still has the freedom to move his lower legs and feet as he prefers. The high-low function makes it easy for Dani to participate in activities close to the floor as well as activities at table height. The low-entry point makes it possible for Dani to be active in standing transfers in and out of the chair, for example when he wants to go for a walk in his Mustang, also from R82.

For independent mobility Dani uses a Mustang with seat, sacrum support, chest support, and 8” slimline wheels. The Mustang gives Dani the freedom to move around independently and experience the world around him. No matter the weather Dani loves to go outside and walk around the garden or go to the playground. His mother says that she must keep an eye on him when outside, otherwise he just goes for adventures on his own.

For longer walks Dani has a Stingray and as a part of his daily routines in the kindergarten he stands in a Meerkat.