Suspecting CP

Finally, after my first month of life in the hospital, my family was able to take me home. Life took on a new turn; now my parents had to take care of three little girls.  Moreover, I did not sleep for long periods of time so there were many long nights for my mom.  My dad worked shift work but my grandmother was there for the first six weeks to help.  Mom was so happy to have her assistance.  My wonderful mom made the decision to stay home with us and was alone after my grandmother left.  I am very lucky to be loved and to have my family's support; they are always there for me and I cannot even start to imagine life without them.  

My parents first started to suspect some sort of muscular problem at five months when I wasn't keeping up with my twin.  I could not hold my head up and couldn't make any attempt to roll or turn over.  The health nurses put my parents in touch with an infant therapy group.  My mother would take us girls and my sisters would play with the other children while I worked individually with a therapist. The therapist would give my parents exercises to follow up with at home.

At seven months, my parents took me back to Edmonton for a follow-up and that's when the doctors said I had CP.  They told my parents to take me home and do the best they could, and that is just what my parents did.  They wanted me to be able to function well and so they made me work my little buns off.  My dad spent countless hours teaching me to roll over and my grandpa built a corner chair so I could sit up and learn to put food in my mouth.

My mom and dad spoke with their doctor and explained that they wanted a second opinion, so he made an appointment at the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary.  I spent my first birthday at Calgary's Neo Natal Clinic going though two days of testing.  The results confirmed the previous diagnosis: It was ataxic cerebral palsy.

With on-going therapy, I could improve my physical ability.  Grande Prairie wasn't able to offer the support and resources that we would need but my parents found them in Calgary.  They decided to move to Airdrie, a fifteen minute drive from Calgary.  Back then, Airdrie was a small town to raise a family.  Both my parents are from small towns and they must have felt most comfortable raising their children as they had been raised. 

I liked growing up in Airdrie because it was a nice town but, I think, with my disability, growing up in a larger city would have been better for me because Airdrie was not very wheelchair accessible at the time and they didn’t have as many programs for people with disabilities.  My parents had to drive me into Calgary usually about two times a week for a few hours each visit.