The 16 year-old Jasmin Götz

The 16 year-old Jasmin Götz is physically and mentally seriously disabled and also blind

Jasmin Götz had a very unlucky start to her life. Even though a heart problem had been diagnosed shortly after her birth she was given oxygen over a long period on the grounds that she had too little oxygen in her blood. It was too much oxygen, though, due to her heart condition her little body could not absorb and produce it, says Hettwig, her mother. By the time the machine was turned off the brain was seriously damaged and Jasmin was blind. Since then she also suffers from so called Tetraspasticity.

But she has her family and their support. They are now trying to enable the sixteen year-old to obtain a dolphin therapy. That is at the moment the biggest wish of Jasmin, her parents Hedwig and Uwe and her three year older brother Jens.

The Picture on the Table

The picture, taken last Summer, standing on the living room table at the home of Hedwig and Uwe Götz in Unterspiesheim shows a happy young girl with shoulder length blond hair, but also with cramped bent arms, a bent back and thin legs. It is the disabled Jasmin who looks so happy and peaceful lying in the family’s garden in Wirtsweg. She loves to be outdoors close to Nature. She hears the birds there and feels the grass says Father Uwe. During the week their daughter is not at home; she is in her fourth year at a boarding school for the disabled in Würzburger Heuchelhof. She is at home for the holidays, at week ends and when she is ill. Before that she was at the Lebenshilfe school in Schonungen.

No Legal Insurance with which to make a Claim

The parents would have liked to make a claim against the doctors but without Insurance to pay the solicitors it would have been too costly and a strain on their nerves.

Because she is blind and above all Tetraspastic (a condition affecting posture and movement up to paralysis due to overworking muscles in arms and legs – Greek = four) Jasmin must not only have constant care. To date she has had six operations, including on her heart and hips.

Even though Hedwig, Uwe and Jens Götz have long since learned to live with Jasmin’s disablement there are days when the family have to give their all in their care for her. Whenever she screams and never stops, grouches, fidgets or doesn’t feel well. „That is the time I feel helpless“, explains Hedwig Götz. The doctors are sure that Jasmin is aware of everything around her. She has learnt to say „yes“ and „no“, and Physiotherapy and other therapies have helped to make her stiff body more supple.

But Jasmin’s arms are still cramped and stiff. Usually she lies on her left side. That is her favourite side. That is because through her heart condition her left side was for a long time not properly oxygenated, reports her mother.

Therapy in Turkey

In order to make long-lasting improvements to their daughter’s condition the parents set all their hopes on a dolphin therapy. In cases like this improvements have been made that were thought impossible, especially concerning movement and communicating with people through speech, noises or gestures.

After learning that Jasmin was too old for a dolphin therapy in Germany, namely at the dolphinarium in Nürnberg, the Götz family, through a report on TV and in the Internet, came across an address in turkey. Furthermore the flight is a lot shorter, there is no great time difference, there are German speaking therapists and the treatment is less expensive than in Florida or Curacao,

However the cost of the therapy poses a big problem as the therapy is not covered by the National Insurance. It would cost altogether about 9000 to 10 000 Euro for a therapy for Jasmin, accompanied by her parents including flight and accomodation. Hedwig Götz has not been able to work since Jasmin’s birth, and the money that her husband Uwe earns in the saw mill would not enable them to carry the cost.

Donation Account and Boxes

But Uwe Götz, from Bad Kissingen, and his wife Hedwig, born in Gernach, were not daunted. They have now started a fund raising campaign. The first collection boxes are already to be found in Banks, Surgeries, Chemists and Shops in Unterspiesheim and other localities in the area.

Furthermore an Account for donations for Jasmin’s dolphin therapy has been opened. However no receipts will be given. This would be too time consuming says Hedwig and Uwe Götz.

Contact: Familie Götz,
Wirtsweg 3, 97509 Unterspiesheim,
Tel. (0 97 23) 86 90 (0 97 23) 86 90

E-Mail:

The Donation Account number is 18 33 456 in the name of Jasmin Götz at the VR-Bank Gerolzhofen (BLZ 793 620 81) .

SOURCE :https://www.unterspiesheim.de/2009/delphintherapie

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