Sonny Marra's story: Oxygen starvation at birth

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Sonny Marra

How The Scotson Technique has helped my son, Sonny Marra

by Pippa Marra

Sonny Marra was born on 21 July 2002 after a text book pregnancy but 11 days late.

The labour started as routine but ended in an emergency c section after Sonnys heartbeat dropped.

When he arrived into the world, he was not breathing, moving etc. He had inhaled the meconium which had lined his lungs like tar preventing the doctors from being able to intubate him. As a result, he was starved of oxygen within the first 30 minutes of his life.

The doctors didn't expect him to survive the night and the following morning we were told that the first 72 hours would be critical but his chances of survival were still slim.

We were devastated but tried to remain positive. 48 hours later, he was taken off the ventilator and off the critical list and from then on, it went from good to better every day and he improved very quickly. He remained in hospital for 16 days; they repeated the brain scan just before he left the hospital and we were told he was a very lucky little boy because that the scan was clear. We could now take him home and start enjoying him.

He gained weight and met most of his milestones on time but his hands did always seem quite tight and his sitting wasn't good.

The hospital has continued to monitor him at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months and they were always happy with his progress.

It was only at the 11 and a half month check that the paediatric consultant said that she felt Sonny was showing signs of mild cerebral palsy and that she would like it confirmed with an MRI scan. We had the scan done and, of course, it did come back confirming our fears. There was a tiny scar on the basal ganglia (the part of the brain that controls the motor movement).

From that point, we were thrown into a whole new world of therapists claiming they knew what was best for our little boy. For 6 months, we lived and breathed physio, constantly moving him, positioning him and re-positioning him. We were given more equipment than we could house but were very grateful that these people were there to help.

We started treatment at Advance in March 2004 and have never looked back.

Linda Scotson talks a lot about superficial muscle and when we first went to visit, I remember thinking, 'I don't think Sonny can have much of that because he can stand, hold his head up, sit a little.' But it isn't until he started to lose the superficial muscle that you could see the difference. On losing this, he always appeared to lose the ability to do certain things i.e. grip things that he had always been able to hold. He would stand less than before. Then the true muscle starts to build up and you see him able to perform those functions again, only properly.

Sonny has continued to improve on a weekly basis. At the end of each visit to Advance, Linda explains the changes that she would expect to see before the next review period and without exception, she is right.

Last time we visited in Apr 2009, she said that Sonny would want to start using his legs more and would start to want to cruise around the furniture etc. She could not have been more right. Sonny is actually trying to walk independently wherever possible, and spends most of his spare time on the trampoline in the garden, walking across and back constantly.

Sonny is now 7 years old and attends mainstream school. He has just gone into Year 3. His only form of mobility is a walker which he controls admirably.

He took his Sats Tests with all the other children in his year last year and he achieved a level 3 (above expected average) in Maths and Literacy and a level 2b (average) in his handwriting. He was over the moon.

He attends after school clubs for trampolining, gymnastics and swimming. He is very popular and loved by all that meet him.

The Advance therapy [The Scotson Technique] is a big commitment, but once you understand this, it not an overnight miracle and you get into a routine of fitting it into your day. It just becomes part of every day life.

Thanks to Advance, Sonny is a healthy, happy, fun loving, normal 7 year old little boy. He has a go at everything.

Advance is part of our lives and I see it being part of our lives well into the future.
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