Sarah 

Sarah arrived much earlier than expected, at only 26 weeks gestation. She was born at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan on August 23, 2001. She spent almost four months in the NICU where was treated for lung and heart complications, as well as other problems associated with premature birth. She had to eat and breathe through tubes for much of her time there.

When Sarah began to crawl after age one, she did so military style, and did not use her legs. She had had spasticity in all her limbs, but her condition was not yet known. Some time after that, a doctor stated she had “static encephalopathy,” and could be considered to have cerebral palsy. That unfortunate diagnosis came on August 14, 2003, at the same time 50 million Americans found themselves without power. Little did we know she would progress into having severe spastic diplegia.

Her therapy started at home through Early On Michigan, which is a tax-funded program through our state school system. Due to her premature lungs, she was at high risk of catching RSV. Fortunately this did not happen, and she continued therapy until the spring of 2004. Once the high risk season was over, she also attended therapy at William Beaumont Hospital (where she is still going strong today). Cerebral palsy is a congenital musculoskeletal disorder that often causes muscles to shorten or tighten up. Kids compensate for shortened muscles by walking on their tiptoes, buckling their knees inward, and swaying their torsos sideways in order to walk. Sarah underwent six weeks of serial casting, which involved wearing casts for a week at a time. This process trains the foot, ankle, and leg into proper alignment. In June of 2006 she underwent a surgical adductor release, which divides the adductor muscles at the groin and corrects the scissoring gait.

Sarah attended physical therapy regularly until her parents heard about, and enrolled her in the 2006 summer program of Conductive Education. This was hard work for Sarah, and she would go home quite tired. But she enjoyed her new friends and made marked improvement in her ability to walk with assistance. At her fifth birthday party Sarah surprised her whole family by walking out of the house using her pink canes from therapy.

Sarah is attending preschool for the second year at Lowry Early Childhood Center located at Oakland University. She gets a big kick out of when someone asks her where she attends school. Her reply is “at the college”. Sarah has a smile that is contagious, and though soft-spoken, she never fails to garner the attention of others. Her parents feed off of her positive attitude and perseverance. She is the oldest of 4 girls, and enjoys being a big sister. Giving direction and providing leadership is a role she plays quite well. She enjoys riding her bike, drawing, and reading to her sisters. Her three sisters are her number one fans, and show tremendous support in everything she does.

One thing with this condition called Cerebral Palsy is you cannot rush it. Our dream of seeing Sarah walk independently may actually come true, due to the extraordinary efforts of Conductive Education. Sarah’s dream is to be able to walk when she meets Mickey Mouse and his friends for the first time.