“We’ve heard a lot about the magic of dolphins. Looking back, we now think it really exists.

Our daughter suffers from spastic tetraparesis and epilepsy. In addition, she is blind. In 2015, we heard about dolphin-assisted therapy from another family during a health resort treatment. Because of Shannen’s blindness, we couldn’t decide to do it at the time. Through friends, however, we later came back to the subject and they reassured us in this. Today we are glad that we flew. The first day was already very exciting. You get to know the therapist and find out which dolphin you are working with. We knew straight away that Shannen would like her therapist: the friendly and funny nature, the Dutch dialect and the songs she sang for Shannen made our daughter happy and made her thrive.

In the first two days of therapy, our daughter was still tense and reserved, but from the third day she relaxed and looked for the dolphin in the water. From then on, Shannen changed a lot. She became more relaxed with her spasticity, opened her hands much more and purposefully and reached for the ring independently. We parents were overwhelmed by the many positive changes and can say that the therapy was a complete success.

This progress also continued at home. She is more attentive, grasps much more consciously and even seeks my hand. One can say that the spasticity has gotten much better. The attacks have also reduced from 3-5 per week to 2 attacks in the last 3 months. She was never interested in her cuddly toys, today she hugs them. The entire environment, her school and the therapists have also noticed the changes. Our goal is to go to Curacao again in spring 2023.”

Manuela Stolzenberg