Renewed Hope Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2005 by Brad and Linda Christensen. In 2000, the Christensen’s youngest son, Justen, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at four months old with severe brain damage. He was cortically blind, insensate, immobile, and non-verbal. Brad and Linda were told Justen didn’t have the capacity to do much of anything as he got older. In fact, he would probably never even know who they were.
Brad and Linda spent the past two decades finding therapies that could help Justen (and other children with special needs) improve. By God’s grace, Justen improved in ways unimaginable to most. Justen went from blindness to seeing. Then, from seeing to reading. His sensation improved. His respiration improved. He started to vocalize and learned to communicate with his fingers/hand via a spelling board. Justen’s world opened up to him, and of course, Justen knew who his parents and his family were. Sadly, Justen passed away in 2022.
Brad and Linda homeschooled all four of their boys, including Justen, from K – 12th grade. They know that all children, including those with disabilities, are created in the image of God and that their lives are precious and valued.
Over the past two decades, their training and knowledge has expanded beyond programs geared towards helping their own son with cerebral palsy to include excellent programs and therapies that can help children with ADD / ADHD and Autism, as well as sensory integration and other learning difficulties.
Through Renewed Hope, Brad and Linda desire to give families with children who struggle with learning difficulties hope for their future by sharing the knowledge they have learned. This includes new listening therapy programs that can be provided remotely in a family’s own home to help their children with learning difficulties.