Cerebral Palsy is caused by lack of oxygen to the brain usually at or before birth due to a traumatic event. My cerebral palsy was caused by a fall my Mom incurred when she was about six months pregnant with me causing her to be hospitalized and put on complete bed rest until I was born a month or so later by cesarean section because the doctors and nurses could not detect a heartbeat (this was in 1971 before ultrasound and other technologies were invented) so they immediately scheduled the surgery.
To everyone’s surprise I was alive and yes very small and sickly looking but I was a strong infant. The sad thing was the this same medical staff was telling my parents that they could not see or hold me and that I would probably not make it past the first day. This was before doctors actually learned that there are medical benefits to premature infants having human contact on a regular basis. Well I did without the kind touch of my mom or dad and as you can tell I lived past the first day and all the other initial predictions the staff came up with, at the time.
In actuality I am lucky because I have a very slight case of cerebral palsy because only parts of the left hemisphere of my brain was effected, which thus caused my right motor skills to be damaged. The result is that I have little use of my right hand and walk with a limp. I am much better than any doctor ever thought I would ever amount to. My dad even taught me how to walk when I was two by way of a Mattel Toys: Tough Stuff Cart in the early seventies when he worked for the company and received test products to test on his own two daughters. He taped my right hand to the orange cart handle and put red bricks in the yellow basket portion and stood behind me encouraging me to take a step one after the other. Of course, my Mom was standing on our front porch crying her eyes out because she felt that my dad was hurting me when all along he was helping me become who I am today.
The doctors also thought I would not talk or be able to fully communicate with others because they originally thought my language portion of my brain but they were wrong there to as you can obviously tell because I am writing this today and I got through school, a bachelor’s program, and received a Master’s in Social Work almost ten years ago. My favorite thing to do is write to educate others about disabled people. The main thing I must say is that tolerance for differences is the biggest thing. Also do remember disabled persons are just like everyone else with a unique twist added on.
Therefore, I must say that having cerebral palsy does not mean that an infant is going to die or that parents should immediately assume the worst because I am proof (along with about five hundred thousand people with Cerebral Palsy) that we did not die in infancy and it is not always the worst thing possible. I can say that I personally have lived a productive life and am raising happy, healthy, well-rounded children.
