The Butler boy received a Lions Children of Courage award in Perth on April 7, thanks to a nomination from the Yanchep Two Rocks Lions Club.
‘I still can’t understand why Christian gets an award because, for me, all kids should get awards,’ Alina said,
Alina and her husband Pawel did not know Christian had congenital hydrocephalus until he was born in May 2006. Originally from Poland, and a carrier of the gene that caused his disability, Alina said her son was ‘unique, one-in-a-million’ and simply getting out of bed every day was an act of bravery.
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READ NOW‘He smiles all the time,’ she said.
‘Even like going to hospital, he always smiles ” I call for an ambulance, he smiles.’
He had to have a shunt inserted into his head when he was five-days-old to manage the medical condition also known as ‘water on the brain’ and spent so much time in hospital when he was younger it almost became his second house.
‘He will have the shunt all his life,’ Alina said.
She said her son could not stand or walk alone, using his walkers to move freely around home and school, and he did not talk or communicate. Christian finds plenty of reasons to smile, enjoying time with the family pets, going to school at Merriwa Education Support Centre and riding a pony with the Riding for the Disabled Association of WA.
Lions WA gives annual courage awards go to children aged five to 15, with one category for children with special needs who show courage in the face of adversity.