My nephew’s pediatrician has prescribed tests for cerebral palsy. It’s not certain that he actually has it, but I wanted to know something about it. I already know what it is, but I wanted to know if anyone here had any experience with it.
What’s the deal? How can it affect someone’s life? How serious is the condition in the person you know? It seems like it can be very minor like affecting a single finger, on up to affecting the whole body.
Anyone here have any comments?
I think that pretty much sums it up. I have no medical background, so this is purely anecdotal:
I have a niece (sorta) with CP. She’s about 40. She’s had a slight limp all her life, and that’s about it.
I had a nephew (sorta) with CP. His brain was so atrophied (or whatever) that he never seemed to have much cognitive or physical ability. You could tell when he was happy or agitated, but he was never able to speak actual words, walk unassisted, or use the bathroom by himself. He died at 15, which, given the condition of his brain, was several years longer than doctors gave him at the time of his diagnosis.
My ex husband has cerebral palsy. He suffered a lot of discrimination because it was mild enough that he “didn’t look like someone with CP” (whatever that means… I guess no canes etc. Instead he looked drunk. Swayed gait, mildly slurred speech, poor fine motor control. Generally treated differently by waitstaff, and service people everywhere. We walked out of stores and cafes when people would talk to me, not him.
Lacing a boot was difficult, but he could ski the peak at Whistler Mountain. And basically living life off balance all the time, he became very graceful on skis, plus he had no fear of falling. A wipeout is just one more day of many in his life when he fell. Me? I cried (and snowplowed, not out of incompetence but fear) the whole way down the first time I skiied Whistler.
We didn’t discuss his CP very much. Towards the end of our marriage it became the elephant in the room (at least to me) but he wouldnt be the same person that I admired without it.
My younger sister has it, with mild physical limitations and severe mental limitations. She cannot speak. She makes a few regular (for her) sounds and recognizes a few words. As an adult, she has in many ways the mentality of a toddler. As you can imagine, trying to look after a toddler who has most of the strength of an older child is extremely difficult. It wore my mother out, and when my sister was 10 it had come to the point where it was necessary to find a place for her to live that had staff that could look after her effectively. She is now in a state facility that seems to take quite good care of her.
Her life, of course, is profoundly different from what most of us experience, and much of that is in ways we can only imagine. As with Earl’s nephew, you could tell if she was happy or upset, but not much else.
Some aspects of her condition led to various degrees of inconvenience for the rest of the family, but the silver lining was the opportunity we had to develop empathy for those not so fortunate as most of us. It made it a little harder for us to take “normalcy” for granted. While there is a fair amount of sadness in the situation, I don’t think it weighs on her. She may well be overall happier than the average person. It is heartwarming to see the raw joy she often exhibits.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dd/ddcp.htm
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cerebral_palsy/cerebral_palsy.htm
Well he’s a toddler right now, and he’s generally exhibited the traits of an intelligent toddler. I guess the Pediatrician suspects it because one calf is noticeably larger than the other in his legs. I hope he doesn’t have it, and if he does, I hope it’s mild.
Is Cerebral Palsy what Jimmy in South Park has?
My nephew is already walking and talking somewhat.
Cerebral palsy is a catchall term for a variety of types of brain damage involving motor coordination, generally occurring during fetal development.