Well, what a life changer that weekend was! They both challenged themselves and supported each other while undertaking activities they had never done before.
Our son Elijah was born with bilateral choroid coloboma, which means that he is blind in his left eye. He was also diagnosed, at the age of 7, with Asperger's Syndrome. For many years, Elijah would only show me, his Mum, any affection and would not even put his arms around his Dad. At the age of 10, we nervously decided that Elijah and his Dad would attend the adventure weekend that MACS was funding.
The weekend arrived and off they went. Before they had even arrived at the destination, Dad had called to say that Elijah was crying – he missed Mum! But on they travelled, leaving a sad Mum at the end of the phone!
Well, what a life changer that weekend was! They both challenged themselves and supported each other while undertaking activities they had never done before. Elijah and his Dad canoed, climbed and zip wired their way to a completely different and much improved relationship! Gradually, over the coming weeks and months, Elijah would slip his arm around his Dad’s neck- having previously never shown him any affection. They now have a close relationship which continues to slowly blossom and which would not have happened without the MACS Adventure weekend!
Elijah is growing into a confident, affectionate young man who believes that anything is possible, which is greatly attributable to MACS! The support and love that we, as a family, have received from MACS over the years has been phenomenal.