J-Town Boy Helped by Hospital Charity

Parents constantly worry about their children falling down, getting hurt, breaking a bone. Those concerned are multiplied for Tara DuHaime, whose son Andrew has hypermobile joint syndrome, a disease that causes ligaments to be much looser than the average person.

For many people this can be a somewhat benign disease, but for Andrew, his secondary injuries cause him the most problems, like sprains or broken bones.

“For the first few months of his life, it was unclear what Andrew’s prognosis was, but we started getting him physical therapy when he was just a month old,” DuHaime said. “When he was very young, his development was well behind those of other premature babies, even though he was born only about a month early.”

As he got older, DuHaime said that Andrew’s developmental gap got smaller, and now the second grader at has braces on both legs, but, according to his mother, has outpaced all expectations. And unless he gets injured, his condition should improve as he gets older.

“Boys get tighter once they hit puberty,” DuHaime said.  “You often hear of men who can’t touch their toes anymore the older they get. This will work to Andrew’s benefit as he gets older. But he needs to strengthen the rest of his body against injuries.”

Andrew has received all his therapy from the Center for Child Development at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood.

“The therapists there have been fantastic with Andrew,” DuHaime said. “The problem was that after his early intervention ended, our insurance only covered up to 30 visits per year. As you can imagine, that gets eaten up very quickly.”

Then DuHaime found out about the Mary Therese Rose Fund (MTRF) through a therapist at Valley.

The MTRF was named after Mary Therese Rose Crilley, a child born with Joubert Syndrome, which affects parts of the brain. Mary was only expected to live a few months, but lived to just short of five years old. Her parents started the fund

“Andrew's therapist told me that the MTRF would pay for his therapy for the rest of the year after our insurance maxed out,” DuHaime said.

About two years ago, DuHaime was asked to deliver a speech for the fund’s fundraising event.

“I figured I could do more than just give a speech,” she said. “I wanted to give back to an organization that has given so much to me. I asked other parents to start a parent network and several have signed up.”

The group will sponsor a 5k Run at Darlington Park in Mahwah on May 5. Visit the MTRF site to register for the run.

Thanks in part of the MTRF, DuHaime said that today, Andrew is a very active young man who enjoys the outdoors, playing basketball and riding his bike.

“He’s a very determined kid,” she said. “As he gets older he listens to his body and knows when to back off, but if he really wants something, he’ll give 150% to get it.”