The Second Skin.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Everyone in our house seems to have been visiting doctors and specialists and physio's for one reason or another. We've been birthday partying, traffic schooling and gratefully accepting cheques on CPEC's behalf (thanks Myer Chadstone!). In there somewhere Jack also got his Second Skin.

The Second Skin is a specialised suit which is somewhere between a compression-type wetsuit and a girdle. It's made of a stretchy material with many strategically placed pieces of flexible boning, customised especially for Jack and his physical needs. It's designed to help him develop core support through his trunk, enabling better control of sitting, standing and walking. It's not an overnight fix - Jack needs to learn to move with his suit and get used to the resistance and support it offers. He wears his clothes over the top and it comes off for naps and night-time.

Many measurements were made of his body several weeks ago and on Monday we picked up his tailor-made suit complete with a car motif on the chest. The beauty of it is it zips open completely, through the arms, trunk and legs, so there is no struggling to get it over his head, or arms and legs through.

When we got to CPEC on Wednesday there were a total of four children in Jack's group of 8 who had new suits that week. The difference, even in those first days, was remarkable. Jack wasn't slouching as much. His quality of walking, although slower as he gets used to the resistance, was better. And as you can see from the picture above, he is beginning to see the benefits of having a Second Skin.

Jack's Second Skin was not cheap - around $2200. It was only made possible through the support of the Make a Difference Foundation (MAD). It will last Jack about a year before he needs to be refitted for another and we will need to look for funding again. I imagine this will go on for some time, maybe for the rest of his life.

So begins another exciting chapter for Jack as new possibilities open up thanks to this amazing suit. We are very grateful to MAD Foundation for their support. If anyone is looking for an organisation to support who do great things for the community, please have a look at MAD's website and consider supporting them in some way.