Barbara Gáncs’s son Barnus has been diagnosed with both Down and West syndrome. With support from the Employee Foundation, the family is able to provide Barnus with extra therapy which has great benefits for both his physical and mental state.
Two-and-a-half year old Barnus had a rough start in life. He was born with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder which causes intellectual disability and increased risk of other health problems. When he was 7 months old, Barnus was also diagnosed with West syndrome, a severe and aggressive type of epilepsy.
“Due to the many seizures he had, he lost his skills, his mental and physical development stopped. At his first birthday he could not make eye contact or even smile. It was very devastating for the family, especially for his brother,” recalls his mother, Barbara Gáncs. Barnus receives rehabilitation offered by social insurance within the frame of early intervention, but the family did not feel it was enough and wanted to complement it with manual therapy and special conductive education. Thanks to a grant from the Employee Foundation, Barnus is now getting additional therapies in a private institution, something that is greatly beneficial to both his physical and mental state.
“We are very grateful for the support from the Employee Foundation that allows us to offer him extra therapies. Thanks to these we experience that he is becoming more open, clever, adorable and a more smiling boy. His muscle strength and vestibular system have significantly developed and as a result of this, he is now able to stand up on his own which we consider a great success or even a miracle. We hope that with the assistance of these therapies, he will be able to walk without external help in the future,” Barbara says.
We hope that with the assistance of these therapies, he will be able to walk without external help in the future
Due to steroid therapies and medical treatments, Barnus’ epileptic seizures has also stopped and he is now a very happy toddler who loves music, reading books, and playing with toy cars. And while having a diagnosed son can be difficult, it is also full of joy and wonders:
“Life with Barnus is full of challenges and struggles, smiles and tears, happy moments and despondency at the same time. Sometimes it is an emotional roller coaster. We consider our son to be our biggest teacher, and we are glad to learn from him every day. We admire his stamina, patience, optimism, cheerfulness and he has taught us to appreciate the tiniest things in life,” says Barbara.
Employee Foundation
The Employee Foundation was established in 1991 to support employees and their families worldwide. Since then, it has made more than 8,100 grants and more than 5,800 employees have received support. At the same time, approx. 2,300 projects in the vicinity of VKR Group companies have benefited from grants from the Employee Foundation.
The foundation’s major purposes:
- To support employees and their immediate families in times of distress and in connection with death, accident or illness with serious consequences or children’s final education. The majority of funds goes to this purpose.
- To support non-profit projects within a close radius of the VKR Group’s locations.
- Beyond this, the Employee Foundation confers the annual Villum Kann Rasmussen Award to a selection of employees who exemplify the Model Company Objective. The foundation is also responsible for special programs promoting health and well-being for all employees, e.g. Healthy Habits campaigns and the voluntary work programme, Live a Dream. Read more The Employee Foundation
Grants
