Peyton was born with cerebral palsy and her parents Nadine and Mike struggled to help her find a way to show off her amazing personality.
Peyton and her family spoke with Scott Phillips and Hot Rod Harriot at the Country 105 Caring for Kids Radiothon Friday at the Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH).
“She is bright and funny, and probably has the best sense of humour of any kid I’ve ever met,” Nadine said.
Nadine told Global News Peyton has almost no gross or fine motor skills but is fully cognitive.
“We always knew who Peyton was, but other people had no idea.”
They started working with the Augmentative Communication and Educational Technologies Team (ACETS) at the ACH six years ago, and were able to trial some very expensive equipment to help Peyton communicate.
“Everybody assumes that everything is funded, but it’s not.”
Peyton is currently using an eye-gaze system that costs $17,000.
According to Nadine, Peyton can communicate with the eye-gaze system that is set up in front of her like an iPad. A camera faces her eyes and follows her gaze so that she is able to communicate with everyone around her.
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The ACETS team has a number of different devices for kids like Peyton to trial before they commit to purchasing it. The clinic also helps with the application process to try to get funding to offset those costs.
Nadine told Global News the applications tend to get taken much more seriously when you can say that you know for sure your child will benefit from a certain device or chair.
She said she has met lots of kids from other areas like Florida or eastern Canada, and while they would benefit from devices like the eye-gaze system, they do not have clinics like ACETS to help them out.
Mike said this technology has unlocked the unlimited potential within Peyton and given her a chance to show off who she really is.
“For Peyton, it was life changing.”
The Country 105 Caring for Kids Radiothon is on until 7 p.m. Friday. For more information or to donate click here.
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