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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Observer Review, 23 Jul 2004
By A Customer
Freddie and Henry: a mother's struggle Henrietta Spink tells the story of her struggle to look after two children with severe disabilities in Henrietta's Dream Liz Hoggard
Sunday July 18, 2004
The Observer
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Henrietta's Dream
by Henrietta Spink
Hodder & Stoughton £12.99, pp290
When Henrietta Spink's son Henry was born she had a vision of him as a young man silently reading in a library. A year later Henry was diagnosed as quadraplegic and it was assumed he was brain damaged (even though no scan could pick up evidence). But Spink never lost sight of her initial 'vision', even when Henry's younger brother, Freddie, was also born with chronic disabilities (they were told he would never eat, walk or talk properly). Alongside a life of washing, lifting, feeding and caring, she resolutely searched for a cure for Henry. Founder of the Henry Spink Foundation, a charity which helps parents to cope with disabled children, Henrietta Spink comes across as part warrior, part Joyce Grenfell. And she is a fantastically tough guide - taking us through the red tape of caring for two disabled children. Friends drop away and her marriage is severely tested. Then there is the profound loneliness of having two babies who may never communicate 'normally'. But Henrietta has no time for self-pity. She actually comes to see being the mother of two disabled children as 'a gift'. Of course it's possible to dismiss her as irredeemably posh and privileged (her relatives include The Duke of Sutherland, while her husband ran the art company, Spink and Co, later bought by Christie's). But after her parents divorced, the titled members of her family literally faded away. Today she and Michael constantly face financial ruin. Spink is remarkably clear-sighted about her own failings. And actually she was right about her vision. Henry, now 16, has been partly 'cured', after Spink tracked down an American neuroanatomist who has been able to unlock Henry's brain to the extent that his sight has improved and he can walk with assistance. Meanwhile Freddie, 14, can walk stiffly and string together simple sentences, despite being profoundly autistic.
Of course, it's impossible not to be humbled by the challenges facing any parents of disabled children. But shame is very different from pleasure for the reader. And this book is unputdownable. It reads like a thriller: as Spink takes on a variety of irritants from politicians and high court judges to Wandsworth Council (stunningly stupid in their refusal to fund even basic assistance). True, there are PC lapses: Spink's colourful vocabulary takes in 'fruitcakes' and 'pansyish'. She is not afraid to claim that being middle-class has made her case harder ('When you're on benefits, then we'll help,' one official told her). More controversially, she asserts that disability is beyond class. But as one who has dedicated her life to 24-hour care, you sense she has earned the right to ask unpalatable questions.
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