She fought all the way and was soon diagnosed as a quadriplegic athetoid. At the age of two and a half she was only able to roll over and had no control of her limbs or any natural body functions for her age. It was then I saw “Standing up for Joe” and knew that was the way I wanted to go. We formed “RACE,” Rapid Action for Conductive Education, to put pressure on the government for something to be done. We were successful and Esther’s name was the first on the list to go to the Institute in Birmingham. We then formed the “FBI,” Friends of the Birmingham Institute, and raised as much money as we could to start the beginning of a long road.

 

Esther went to the Peto Institute in Hungary with the first ten “pioneer” children and their English trainee conductors. She was still incontinent and could not raise her body off the floor. Within three months she was free of nappies and was able to hold herself up on her knees. Her smile for me said it all.

 

After six months she came back to England and went full time to the Birmingham Institute. Her development continued and her determination drove her to get onto her feet. Her condition was that bad that she has never been able to walk unaided. Her speech never came. When she was nine years old we managed to get hold of a communication aid called a Dynovox. She was continually on the machine and was soon able to express all her feelings. We then found that she was able to read and her education took off.

 

She soon began two days a week at Hall Green Junior School where she was in class with able bodied children and her helper. When she was eleven we kept her on at the school full time. We were lucky then to have her accepted by Hall Green Senior School where she stayed for the next five years. She left with 5 “O” levels including Maths and English. She failed French as she had no speech and Science because she was not able to do the practical herself but passed all the written exams.

 

She then went to Portland College in Mansfield. A special college that gave her living skills as well as some education. I think that she liked the social side of the college the best as she was always down at the “Wreck” with her friends when we called. She was voted the best student in the college in her last year and was presented with her prize by the Duke of Wessex.

 

She returned home and immediately signed as a student at the Birmingham College of Food and Tourism to take 4 “O” levels in tourism. This she did within 2 years gaining them with “Merit” passes. She was awarded the prize by the College of The Student of the Year who overcame her education regardless of her disabilities.

 

She then began her next course in tourism, a BTEC in tourism the equivalent of “A” levels and this is due to end this June and she is well on the way of passing at a “Merit” level. She is also in her second year of learning Spanish with an American accent and she is now teaching me Spanish words.

 

She aims to start a degree course through Birmingham University in tourism in September and this will keep her occupied for the next two years.

 

She enjoys social life with her friends and family. She is constantly texting them on her mobile phone or talking to them on her computer on MSN Messenger. She loves travel and is going to Lourdes again this Easter. She is a member of a local gym and enjoys the exercise walking on the treadmill for up to 15 minutes, using the multi gym equipment and finishing up in the swimming pool and Jacuzzi.

 

We know that Esther will never walk or talk but she will always fight against her disability and is a smart, intelligent, young lady who enjoys life and nothing will convince me that this is not down to the start in life, the encouragement, attention and care that was given to her at the Birmingham Institute. We do not have to cast our minds back too many years when someone like Esther would have been sent to an institution, put in the corner and their full potential would not have been known.

 

I look forward to the years ahead, to Esther who wants to be a manager of a travel agency or to start her own business in tourism. She will always need help but so will many other children with the same needs at the beginning of their lives and I wish them well. I am proud to be known only as “Esther’s Dad.”