Seven-month-old Nicholas Ridding has Spina Bifida. His mom is hosting a fundraising walk in his honour.

By Katie Richard
The Oshawa Express

When Amanda Ridding, a local nurse, found out 22 weeks into her pregnancy that her unborn child had the most severe form of Spina Bifida, she knew little about it.
Turning to the Internet for more information, Ridding says what she found online was scary at first.
“They give you these horrible, horrible things about it on the Internet,” she says.
Her son Nickolas was born on lucky Friday, November 13, 2009. He had his first major surgery when he was just 24-hours-old. The surgery fixed and covered a lesion on his spine, but damage to the nerves couldn’t be repaired.
“He then received a shunt at three-weeks-old due to hydrocephalus, something we expected and tried to be prepared for,” says Ridding.
“Nickolas bounced back from both surgeries with amazing determination. He is a very happy baby who takes things in stride and flashes his dazzling smile at everyone he sees.”
Thankfully at birth, the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario (SB&H) stepped in to help and lend support to a family that needed it most.
“When we got the diagnosis and when we were in the hospital at first, the association was very helpful in providing us with information on stuff we were worried about,” she says.
“We made it through the pregnancy not knowing how the Spina Bifida affected Nickolas but given a range of symptoms. The SB&H provided us with valuable and helpful information about Spina Bifida and hydrocephalus during our pregnancy as well as in the first weeks at the hospital.”

Now Nickolas is seven months old and Ridding wants to give back to the association that has helped her and her family get to this point.
“This is the perfect opportunity to help,” the proud mother explains.

This Saturday, June 19, Ridding, family and friends, along with Nickolas, will host a ‘Spirit Wheel Walk Run’ to raise money for the association.

But the walk is not only about raising money, it’s about putting a face to Spina Bifida, which is a birth defect that sets off a chain of other problems that make up the entire package, says Ridding.
Spina Bifida comes as a package deal. There are effects on the whole body - the spinal cord, the brain, the bladder and bowels, muscles and bones and other medical problems. It occurs in one and 1,000 births.
But it doesn’t slow Nickolas down much, he rolled over for the first time last week, says the proud mother on the online blog she created to raise awareness about Spina Bifida.
“I am most excited about being able to put a face to Spina Bifida to combat the belief that anyone with Spina Bifida will be paraplegic, be dependent on us forever, never walk and always need diapers. I want to show people how wonderful it is to have Nickolas and how proud I am to be his mom,” says Ridding.
Ridding says her goal was originally $1,000 when the 10-person team signed up, but they have already raised $975 and are hopeful for many more donations.

The walk will start in Pickering along the Durham Lakeshore at 10 a.m. The team will walk for about an hour and a half, then turn back for a total walking time of about three hours. Email amanda_in78@hotmail.com for more information.
Nickolas’ team is registered, along with hundreds of other families from all over Ontario. To make a donation go to www.sbhao.on.ca/about-us/donate/making-donation follow the directions to donate. Just enter the dollar amount, frequency and designation, which is 2010 swwr – Nickolas loved ones.
Ridding plans on making Nickolas’ walk an annual event.
While there is no cure for Spina Bifida or hydrocephalus there is hope, she says.
Ongoing therapy, medical care and/or surgical treatments are available to manage these complex conditions. Today, research, advances in medical technology and support for people with Spina Bifida and hydrocephalus enable them to live full and productive lives.
“My children, they have shown me what faith, hope, love and joy truly means,” adds Ridding.
“Nickolas has brought us such joy. Our lives changed the day we found out that Nickolas would be born with Spina Bifida. I can’t imagine what life would be like without him, he makes our family complete.”