Skiing!

If I tell you a certain special little man had a unexpected 3 hour Adaptive Ski lesson today, on the chairlift, on real skis, on a dual ski, and on a gait trainer with skis skiing the whole way down the mountain, leaving his mummy with tears of joy and him with a big proud face, would you believe me....?

Or that my little three year old was hurtling down the mountain alongside him? just like this! Many pics on this link showing Reuben in action with all his adaptive gear.

Reuben has Tetrology of Fallot, a series of congenital heart defects, congenital cervical spine fusions, is moderately-severely deaf, wears glasses, has a coloboma, has chronic lung disease, feeds through a gastric tube, had his tracheostomy removed in June 2010, has had 17 surgeries, but, typically of his syndrome (CHARGE), is extremely determined.

Yet never could I envisage Reuben would have such an amazing opportunity, being able to enjoy skiing given his heap of medical, sensory and balance issues, never mind this Christmas Day when he was admitted to hospital. Such sports were always out of bounds for Reuben, that is, until I spotted a little sign today and asked him, "Would you like to go skiing?". "Yes!"

"I go very very fast" I heard him in the car tonight on the way back from Big Bear Mountain. "Callum goes very slow", he continued, laughing his socks off...