Recently we received a message from a Mum who had been at the game with her 5 year old old son, who that day, had been a mascot leading out the team alongside his hero, Tony Breeden.
Little did we know how much football and Leamington FC had changed this little boy and his family’s lives.
Their story had such an impact on us, the supporters put out a plea to help raise some money to buy a shirt but the generosity shown by everyone was immense, raising in excess of £300 enabling us to not only put together a football package for Charlie but also his little brother Harry...we will catch up with them both at Christmas with photos of them opening their presents to see their beaming smiles...you are truly amazing.
You will see how important football is to this little boy and his family after reading their day to day battle with his condition.
My son Charlie was born with benign external hydrocephalus, we found out when he was 12 months old and by then he had several bleeds on the brain, unfortunately these haven't gone and have formed a chronic clot on the brain which has caused my son to have a severe speech delay, he didn't speak until he was 4 and half and has had to attend speech therapy every week from 16 months old and still does now... He spent a lot of time in and out of Birmingham children's hospital as a toddler, he had to learn makaton sign language to communicate, he's struggled a lot and as he got older his development became very noticeable that he was different to others. He’s currently in the waiting list for a diagnosis of autism so it's a very hard time as he suffers severe anxiety, panic attacks, low self esteem, depression, self harm and extreme low mood, we have had to do all the autism courses, read books, tried medication etc but it's a long process to get the help he needs so in the meantime we have no choice but manage.
It can be very distressing for his brother Harry who is 3, to watch when he had a huge meltdown because he feels he can't cope with life, it upsets all of us but we do our best to help. Charlie finds it extremely hard to go to parties, events, friends houses etc and would rather just be with me until he found football. He didn't know what football was until he watched the World Cup and as he's very obsessional about numbers and counting he liked seeing numbers on the television. He wanted to try football so he joined Leamington Brakes Under 6's in June 2018 and loved it, he does find it hard at times with his autistic traits but his coach has been fantastic supporting him. Then my Mum & I took him to his first football match at Leamington FC, and we actually saw Charlie 'calm' for once, he even smiled which is very rare for him. He loves counting the score and loves rules and routine so it's perfect for him. He felt at home and there's no one there judging him or laughing at him. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly and that had a huge impact on Charlie wanting to go back again... We've attended nearly every match since, Charlie idolises Tony Breeden, he calls him his best friend and when children laugh at him he will say 'it's okay because my friend is Tony', and he's so proud to say that.
I’ve never seen him so content before. He battles so many demons on a daily basis but what he looks forward to at the end of the week is seeing his favourite team play and for that I cannot thank you - everyone, fans, players, managers, staff etc enough for giving my son a smile... Love Hannah x
