"Children of Courage" Award

Today, Aidan received a Lions Club "Children of Courage" award. In his category, Special Needs, it is awarded to Children with special needs who have shown courage in the face of adversity. Nominees in this category will be those children who have striven to improve the quality of their lives. Aidan was nominated by one of our neighbours, who is in the club.

This was a significant award for Aidan, it was given to him by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, and he was one of ten children given recognition in the areas of Special Needs, Courageous Act or Deed, and Outstanding Sporting Achievements. We were very proud of him, even if he did play up during most of the ceremony. He did, however, manage to redeem himself on stage! The presenters all donned party hats to join in the celebration.

To provide more background on Aidan, here is the citation we wrote for him:

Aidan has both an intellectual and some physical disability as a result of a seizure he sustained at 18 months of age. He spent two weeks at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. When he was sent home he was unable to eat, had no control of his physical movement, and no recognition of family or friends.

With the help of some very supportive people and many busy years, Aidan was able to regain and grow many of the functions we all take for granted. It took him four years to learn how to walk, and only now is he able to communicate verbally with sentences. He has learnt how to ride a bike with training wheels, how to dress himself, and his language development improves every day.

Aidan is highly sociable, and has a tendency to introduce himself to everybody that he meets. He loves meeting new people and has his special greetings which include “Hello”. “What are you doing today?” and “Will you be here tomorrow?” He loves to go to the beach, and especially loves the Geebung Special School where he receives tremendous learning support.

Aidan’s intellectual disability does come with some challenges. His highly sociable nature means that he has to be watched constantly on outings. He tends to have loud outbursts when things do not go to his liking. He also has some difficulty concentrating on tasks, which sometimes hampers his learning ability.

Aidan knows he has his family’s love. His best friends are his two brothers, Ethan and Callum. He also likes to feed Wednesday, the dog, with any leftover food scraps he can find! He loves spending time with his grandparents, particularly his Grandma.

His family is very proud Aidan has been nominated for a Lions Children of Courage Award.

Aidan had a lot of fun at the ceremony. They all got covered in streamers and balloons at the end of the show, so he was in his element. They had a party at the end as well, which was in part hosted by McDonalds, so there were McDonald Cookies everywhere. The kids all ran around, and Ethan had family friends and other kids he knew from his school there, so he was happy. We had family and friends there, so all up it ended being a pretty good afternoon.

Ciao for Now, Proud Angry Dad.