“In those two weeks with the dolphins, Sarah was the happiest person on earth. Whenever she could visit Nubia in the water, her whole face would just radiate with joy. I don’t know what it is that the dolphins have but the effect is unmistakable. Sarah is more outgoing, able to concentrate better and, most of all, she can now walk in little steps, all on her own.

Sarah, from birth, has had a massive malformation of her hip. She has a lot of trouble standing and walking. Her surgeries have not changed that. In addition, she has a speech impairment. Her doctors have been unable to find the cause up to now. But she understands everything and uses sign language.

In 2018, I went to Curaçao with Sarah for the first time. In the beginning, she had to be pushed to the dock in her wheelchair. At the end of our stay, she was able to walk to the water, holding hands. For me, it is surprising with how much interest and how fearlessly she now reacts to animals. Before her dolphin therapy, Sarah totally ignored our cat at home and never touched the cat. In the facility on Curaçao, we saw a stray cat. On a whim, I asked Sarah if she wanted to pet the cat. She carefully bent down to her and petted her for a long time. From this point on, she developed a relationship with our cat.

In August 2020, Sarah could once more do the dolphin therapy on Curaçao through delfine therapieren menschen – thanks to the amazing support in our hometown. She again made gigantic progress and her gait pattern improved dramatically. She is much more independent now.

I myself also benefitted greatly from the CDTC concept. I am a single mom, self-employed and very pressured for time. In the two weeks on Curaçao, not only was I able to concentrate exclusively on Sarah but I also experienced a lot of support.”

Andrea Lang