Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day

As most of you know Twink suffers from mild cerebral palsy due to a in utero stroke. For those of you who do not know Twink she is a beautiful little girl who is smart, funny and loving. Twink's whole left temporal lobe was completely damaged as well as a small portion of her cerebellum. Her neurologist was pleasantly surprised when he saw her for the first time. Nothing like he thought he's see. He had just finished reading her file and was expecting to see a child not doing as well as Twink.

Twink does have difficulty with her her speech and but communicates in many ways. She is mastering sign language. Twink has a very small limp and fist her right hand. Other than that for our child most people can not tell that she has CP.

Education is everything and there are many people who are afraid when they hear the words Cerebral Palsy. I will admit our family was one of them. In fact it was not one of our special needs we checked of for our medical check list. Good thing the Lord knows best! :) What better day than today to educate people about Cerebral Palsy!


- The average prevalence of cerebral palsy is about 1 in 278 children. This first report of the prevalence and characteristics of CP, the most common cause of motor disability in childhood, are from Georgia, Alabama and Wisconsin. Can you even begin to imagine the numbers if there was a national surveillance?

- Cerebral palsy is one of the most common developmental disabilities in the US, affecting at least 800,000 children, adolescents and adults in America. Cerebral palsy is NOT a disease nor should it be considered one. It is not even a simple or single disorder but rather a broad range of disorders that disrupt a person’s ability to move, sit, stand, walk, talk and use their hands. The severity of the movement disorder and the type of movement difficulties can vary greatly. Some patients have only mild difficulties with balance, walking and fine motor skills while patients at the other extreme are completely trapped in their own bodies, fighting rigid limbs, and unable to speak or swallow.

- There is currently no cure for cerebral palsy and in most cases, it is not preventable. In over 50 years, treatments for CP have not progressed much at all. In fact, today, there remains little consensus among medical professionals regarding what causes CP or how best to treat it. Why do 800,000 or more Americans have CP, and yet we don’t know much more about what causes it or how to prevent it than we did a half century ago?
Resources: Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Reaching for the Stars (RFTS)

Now mind you these are US statistics not China. Although it seems China is referring many children these days with CP.