Disabled Usmaan aged 4 from Banbury wins Abacus Big Bear competition at Kidz South

Usmaan Khan, aged 4 from Banbury who lives with disability, has been presented with ‘Freddie’ the big cuddly bear after winning the Abacus Healthcare ‘Guess the name of Abacus’ Big Bear’ competition at the Kidz to Adultz South exhibition.

Usmaan is a lovely young boy who has Global Developmental Delay and epilepsy. Usmaan has low tone and is unable to support himself, walk or talk so requires continual care from his mom Ifra Bi. Usmaan and his mom attended the Kidz to Adultz South exhibition in Reading during June as they were researching the latest adaptive equipment. They visited the Abacus Healthcare stand and received demonstrations of the Gemini and Aries hi-lo baths from the specialist product advisors on hand during the show.

Ifra was keen to discover how bathing Usmaan could be made easier as she has to manually lift him in and out of the bath. Usmaan is already quite tall and heavy for his age hence a bath with powered height adjustment or bather transfer seat might help Ifra and ensure she does not strain her back. She was very impressed with the hi-lo Gemini bath with integrated platform as this could make changing, drying and transferring safer for her and Usmaan.  Following an initial discussion about Usmaan’s individual bathing needs, Ifra was offered the chance to enter the on-stand competition to win the Abacus’ Big Bear cuddly toy. By correctly guessing the bear was called ‘Freddie’ from a list of pre-selected names, Ifra won the competition for her son. David Bertorelli, Abacus Healthcare Area Sales Manager, subsequently presented Freddie the bear to Usmaan at his home in Banbury.

On receipt of the Abacus Big Bear Ifra said:

“We are delighted to have won the Abacus competition, we’ve never won anything before and I’m sure Usmaan will enjoy cuddling him at night. Visiting Kidz was so helpful for us. We really liked the Gemini especially with a postural seating support as it could really help Usmaan when reclining in the bath. The Abacus advisors have been really helpful and given me all the information I need to contact my OT so we can apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant. We have bought a new house and are hoping to get it all converted so it is more accessible before we move in. Having a hi-lo Abacus bath will make a huge difference as I can’t keep lifting Usmaan in and out of the bath much longer. My husband is really tall so it is even harder for him to bend over. Let’s hope we are successful with our grant application.”