Why am I doing the Durham Big Ride?

Just one of the many reason why people get on their bikes in Durham in September

Around 6 years ago our son Taylan was diagnosed with having severe Autism. At that time Taylan was finding it really difficult to relate to the world going on around him......he was unable to communicate his needs & what is normally an easy transition from toddler to little boy was a complete up-heaval for our little man. We never gave up hope that things would somehow improve as the years passed by. Around the end of 2009 while searching for help to make Taylan's life more tolerable we came across the Son-Rise program. This organisation has high levels of success bringing children through their state of autism. After attending a seminar in the UK, we were totally convinced by what we had seen, and like every other set of parents, we wanted our child to fulfil his potential. Without special intervention, Taylan’s future is extremely limited. The success rate of the Son-Rise program instils hope in us for his freedom from this condition. It is difficult for us to understand fully the issue of autism and reversing it in Taylan, but we are diligently trying to do so for the sake of his future.

I n October 2010 we set up a playroom in our house and we started on the son-rise program. In January 2011 I went to London for a week of start up training with Anita, Taylan's school 1:1 worker. From then until now we have worked on the principals of son-rise with Taylan and some fantastic volunteers that work with him.

We have witnessed so many changes in Taylan's life that we had only dreamed about until we started this program, all of which you can read about on his web page. www.helpingtaylan.co.uk or search on facebook for Taylan's awesome Son Rise journey.

This September Taylan, Mum and Dad  are travelling to Autism Treatment Centre of America to complete  our intensive training. this will give us and subsequently our volunteers the relevant skills to reach our end goal for Taylan.

 

To financially aid this trip we've had various fundraising events, such as a 80's/90's disco, Race Night, Coffee Mornings, Car boot sales, a sponsored bike ride, a Karaoke night and a pamper party.  We now have a team of 11 people doing the Durham Big bike ride and 3 people completing the Beast. All of these lovely, kind people will be getting sponsorship to help with our fundraising. We also have Angela Robertson running the Great North Run for us. If you are able to help in any way please go onto our website and get in touch.

Have a fantastic day at the Durham Big Ride and The Beast, thank you for reading about our very special boy.
Lucy & David Horsley