Let's help Natasha to dance at Disneyland
The KIDS Foundation has known Natasha for 4 years and in this time, we've seen such growth in her confidence; Natasha has developed into a remarkable young person who is taking on the world in so many ways.
Natasha's love of dance started as she was recovering from an accident when she was four years old and since then, her involvement with a dance academy has been integral in her recovery.
Natasha has been given the chance of a life-time to dance with the Broadbent Dance Academy at Disneyland, USA in September 2018 and the KIDS Foundation would like to help her achieve her dream by helping her fundraise.
The 'Dance Around the World' tour is for talented young dancers to perform on the Hollywood Boulevard, Universal Studios City Walk, take part in creative workshops and take a world famous Studio Tour, home of Universal Pictures.
With you support and kind donations, together we can help Natasha dance at Disneyland in the USA.
Natasha's Story - as told by Zoi her mum
Natasha was taken to the RCA on the 26th of May 2011, only a few months before her fourth birthday. She was helping her grandmother cook as she often did, but this time got too close to the flame. Natasha sustained third degree burns to nearly 60% of her body including her entire torso, left arm and hand, face and top of her left thigh.
I have few photos of Natasha’s early days in ICU however the images are etched in my mind forever. Her feet were the only thing that I could recognise and the only part of her I could hold. She was unrecognisable; swollen and charred, and wrapped up like a mummy. All I wanted to do was hold her in my arms, but instead all that we could do was stand beside her holding her feet and listen to the machines breathing for her. Natasha stayed in ICU for five weeks, was intubated for four of them, before being taken to the ward where the next few months of her journey to recovery was spent. We spent the next 14 weeks back and forth, in and out of surgeries.
To think that Natasha now spends around seven hours a week dancing is hard to believe. After leaving hospital and continuing to recover at home, I thought enrolling her in the local school might help give her the physio activities she needed in a more enjoyable way.
Covered from head to toe in her pressure garments, off she went to Broadbent Dance Academy and the rest is history. Six years later, she has found her ‘happy place’. Naturally, as she grows she will need ongoing procedures and we hope that dancing will help in her recovery again.
Looking at her now, I can see how her strength of spirit got all of us through a life-changing and traumatic time.
We connected to the KIDS Foundation four years ago, after feeling that it was time for us to come together with other families who have experienced similar heartache.
The opportunities that KIDS has provided our family have been wonderful and have helped Natasha develop into a strong and confident young person. With KIDS our family has attended events and camps that provide peer-to-peer and family support and a professional network for children effected by trauma. Natasha has made some lovely new friends and enjoyed some new experiences.