Disclaimer: Customer stories and testimonials on this page may speak to a customer’s individual experience with the Otteroo and their child’s impairment. These stories and testimonials may not reflect all Otteroo experiences. The Otteroo is intended to provide buoyancy to promote free movement in the water to support natural development and is not intended to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent a disease or condition.
After seeing David play ring-around-the-rosie with his three older siblings, we were instantly in love. His mom, Katrina, tells us why she is equally obsessed with Otteroo.
Tell us about David
He was diagnosed at two months of age with hydrocephalus. They think it probably set in sometime after he was born, but probably from something that was happening in utero, like I caught an infection or something that passed onto him. Anyway, he had pretty severe brain damage, which led to epilepsy and cerebral palsy, and cerebral visual impairment. That was when he was 2 months old, and now he's almost 4.
How often do you use the Otteroo?
He's used the Otteroo the last two summers. We had open pool access last fall and spring, but I think those pools have kind of been closed this year because of COVID, but we did have access to a pool over the summer which was really nice this year. He went swimming basically every day and he loves the Otteroo.
How does he respond when he's in it?
When we're at the pool, he's really excited to get in the water. Within a couple of minutes he's happily kicking and splashing and doing a lot of natural movements that he can't do outside of the water because of his physical limitations. Mostly, because of his lack of head support, but the Otteroo kind of allows him to take his head out of the equation and he can just really move his body freely which is super cool.
How does that make you feel?
Oh my goodness, it's just so fun. It's such a joy because all of my kids love to swim and I've always loved to swim and it's just awesome that he is a part of that. I think it's the one activity where I feel like he is just totally included. The Otteroo just makes swimming a completely accessible activity and it's magical. It really is.