Tia is an active teen who loves to dance, bowl, and chat with her friends via social media. She and her mom, Karita, like taking walks together, and they both enjoy going on family road trips. But a medical condition impacted Tia’s quality of life, causing back pain and making it difficult for her to stand at her part-time job. She had a hard time writing because the nerves in her hands caused uncontrollable shaking.

Tia has POTS, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which affects her blood flow and causes lightheadedness, rapid heartbeat, and fainting. Karita felt helpless and frustrated as she watched her daughter struggle with simple tasks like finishing homework.

Karita turned to the team at 321go Kids to find solutions for Tia. “The main goal was for her to be able to write better and for longer periods of time. Before therapy at 321go, she could only write for five minutes at a time due to the shaking in her hands,” Karita noted.

Lindsay, an Occupational Therapist Assistant with 321go Kids, worked alongside Tia to help her accomplish her goals. “Tia is older than my normal age range of patients, so we found creative and fun ways to address Tia’s goals,” Lindsay shared. “We played card games, strategic games and colored complex pictures.”

The two would also complete yoga together and Lindsay appreciated the way Tia would encourage her throughout the exercises. Lindsay was eight months pregnant at the time, so they would cheer each other on during the challenging workouts.

321go Kids includes a family phase where the family works together on therapy at home. Lindsay shared Tia and Karita excelled in this phase.

“They did very well at keeping up with exercising, stretching, and doing massage while on family phase, Lindsay described. “Because of their hard work and desire to follow through with exercises, Tia was able to be discharged after one package of therapy!”

Tia can now write for longer than 30 minutes and uses the exercises she learned at 321Go Kids to be able to stand for long periods of time at her part-time job. Karita credits the team at 321go Kids for helping Tia achieve her goals.

“Everyone there is so sweet and amazing,” she expressed. “They also actually help you with your problems!”

Are you frustrated and feel helpless by the way a medical condition is impacting your child or do you know someone who is? Make an appointment or reach out to our team.