Dx Cerebral Palsy: Cora’s Success Story
Cora Turns a Poor Prognosis into Walking and Talking
We found out that we were pregnant with twins at our 20-week ultrasound. Sadly, one of our girls had already passed away. Cora suffered a brain injury to her left hemisphere during that period.
When she was born the neurologist confirmed this with an MRI. At 4 months old Cora was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. We were told that they could not predict if Cora would walk, talk, or live independently. Both my husband and I were so fearful during this time, and I felt frantic to do anything I could to help Cora. We started early intervention therapies.
“It wasn’t addressing the root issue; I did not see any progress.”
I never felt settled with what we were doing. I often felt like it wasn’t addressing the root issue and I did not see any progress. I would spend hours looking at online forums, reading articles, and talking to other moms to try to find more answers. This is how I found out about The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. It really aligned with what I already believed, which was that Cora was bright and we were missing crucial help for her development. My husband and I took the “What to Do About Your Brain-Injured Child” course when Cora was 18 months old. At that time Cora could sit up on her own and was able to army crawl, mostly using the left, unaffected, side of her body.
She was just making a few sounds, like “maa” and “baa”. Our biggest takeaway from the course was that Cora was capable and there was hope. I remember crying after the course because of relief I felt.
We went home and started the program we were assigned. We started seeing changes right away. Cora started using the right side of her body more. She started to make more noises.
She learned how to creep on her hands and knees. The biggest change came when Cora learned to walk independently, just within nine months of doing the program!
At three and half years old Cora is talking in phrases, walking up and down stairs, and reading. She is very intuitive socially and loves to play with other kids. She is friendly, warm, and outgoing.
“Doing the program has not been easy but I would do it one hundred times over.”
I will not say that doing the program has been easy. It has required us to make many sacrifices regarding our time and energy. However, I would do it one hundred times over because of all the growth I have seen in Cora just within two years. She went from non-verbal and not walking to a talking and walking child!
There was a time where we were very fearful for Cora’s future, but now we feel optimistic. Cora has always been special and now she has the tools to really express herself. We are so proud of Cora’s spirit of determination and know she will accomplish great things!