Holly’s Story | Marking World Cerebral Palsy Day

At her birth in 2005, Holly was oxygen deprived for 34 minutes, which resulted in her suffering severe choreoathetoid cerebral palsy.

The circumstances that led to Holly’s injury were entirely avoidable. Already a mother to her first child, Holly’s mum had delivered her first baby via caesarean section. In the lead up to Holly’s birth, she was convinced to have a vaginal delivery. However, her caesarean scar ruptured, and this led to Holly being deprived of oxygen.

Birth injury specialist, Jill Heywood, led the team which acted for Holly and her family, in a long and complex compensation claim, which finally settled in 2018. The case involved input from a variety of experts including our education law team. They worked to ensure that Holly could reach her full potential.

We are proud to have since watched Holly flourish. Read on to learn more of her story.

A difficult and complex case

At our suggestion, there was a stay in the proceedings of over a year while we assessed Holly’s future education needs. This was an important step, as the outcome of this assessment would have had the potential to make a huge difference to the final compensation settlement. For example, if her injury would require her to attend a residential college, this would have required significant funding, and would cost many hundreds of thousands of pounds. In the end, a secondary school near her home was able to meet Holly’s needs, along with significant input from an Augmentative and Alternative Communication specialist (AAC), whom we introduced to Holly.

In addition, we faced a particular challenge around her preserved intellect, which was really hard to establish because of her communication difficulties. The primary school Holly attended had difficulty understanding just how bright she really was, because they had no meaningful way for her to access their curriculum. The AAC specialist worked with her secondary school to enable Holly to fully access learning, and demonstrate just how bright she really was.

Initially, there were challenges establishing liability with the other side, but when this was eventually established, it allowed us to move forward on Holly’s behalf.

Securing interim payments for lifetime support

Interim payments enabled the family to put support in place to help them and ensure Holly would benefit from treatments, therapies and equipment, including specialist transport.

Holly’s family were able to make further adaptations to their home which would enable Holly to access every room without restriction. The payments also funded the 24-hour care that she requires – meaning that Holly’s needs were always attended to, and the family could take some respite from her care. However it was access to the AAC specialist that made such a fundamental difference to Holly, as she was encouraged to develop and thrive in her communication – and learn to express herself in a way that suited her and those around her.

Building a relationship with the family

Holly’s family are very open and were fully engaged with the claim. Understandably, during the lifetime of the claim, their lives were incredibly busy. Holly’s mother, Fiona, and father, Paul, were both working full time. Fiona was also involved in a couple of other business ventures, and they had no carers to help with Holly – so were taking on all of her care, plus running their households and businesses, on very little sleep.

Despite these challenges, Holly’s family somehow managed to achieve a balance – giving their other children the attention and input they needed, working alongside the lawyers on the case, and also providing the ongoing and additional care that Holly needed during these difficult and uncertain years.

A flourishing young adult

Being able to access education that is commensurate with her intellectual ability has changed Holly’s life. Without the AAC specialist, she would have been unable to access education. But now a young adult, Holly is flourishing. She completed her GCSEs in the summer of 2022, sat the International Baccalaureate and is now studying for a degree in Philosophy.

Holly also went on to do some modelling and acting – finding a new level of independence and exploration of who she is. It is clear that Holly is very spirited. She is clear about what she wants, is game for trying anything and she has also made great progress learning to ski. An incredibly loving person, Holly has a very special bond with her older brother – whom she describes as her best friend.

The case has truly empowered Holly to lead a fulfilled and happy life – to to also future-proof for how her needs and support will change over time. Holly is now in a position where she has been able to buy her own home and is currently having it adapted for her needs. This will give her the security to be able to live independently when her parents are no longer able to provide support.

You can learn more about Holly’s story in this powerful video, here.