Cerebral Palsy

Imagine that you live in a small town and everyone knows who you are. Imagine all your life you thought you had cerebral palsy. However, you know cerebral palsy is not supposed to worsen. Imagine you suddenly become worse; your walking and your speech become worse. Your head throbs, and your eyes feel as though someone is stabbing and punching them. You are sent to a neurologist, and just by looking at you, he says, "You have dystonia. You can look it up and read about dystonia online.

A Chaplin woman has written a book that will benefit an equine-assisted therapy center in Lancaster. Kimberly Hawkins, 20, wrote "Angel Horse," which was illustrated by her father. The book is selling for $10, with proceeds going to Hooves of Hope Equestrian Center. The money will assist with the care of the therapy horses. Blair Cunningham-Newsome, owner of Crest View Farm and co-founder of the nonprofit organization, says Hawkins wanted to write about her horse, Blaze. Hawkins suffers from a rare form of cerebral palsy and has been engaged in hippotherapy for about eight years.

Dear Editor: The Board of Directors of the Wilderness Trace Child Development Center would like to express its appreciation for the unfailing support of those giving through the Heart of Kentucky United Way. Without your contributions, we would be unable to provide special education and therapies to our young children with disabilities and developmental delays. As you may know, these disabilities may include cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism and many other conditions common to young children.

Dear Editor, I want to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the 16 Heart of Kentucky United Way Day of Caring volunteers who descended on the Wilderness Trace Child Development Center on Wednesday, Sept. 12. It was a beautiful fall day, and we had a full schedule of jobs to complete in just a few hours. These generous volunteers jumped right in and began working immediately after their arrival. Over a period of five hours, they painted, constructed much needed storage shelves, washed windows, planted flower bulbs, replaced drought damaged shrubbery, weeded flower beds, cleaned light fixtures, vacuumed, cleaned and repaired equipment, and volunteered in the classrooms.

July 13, 1982 Mrs. Ruth Shepherd and grandson, Paul McNeill, have returned to their home on West Lexington Avenue following a several weeks' stay in New York. While there, Paul, who suffers from cerebral palsy, underwent spinal column stimulation surgery at St. Barnabas Hospital. Mrs. Harvey T. Smith and children, Stanley Smith and Mrs. Gina S. Warner, all of Melbourne, Fla., and Mrs. Cindy S. Abbott of Tampa, Fla., have returned to their homes following a visit in Winchester.

I am a 55-year-old man with cerebral palsy. I can't do anything for myself, but my mind is normal. I live by myself with staff around the clock, provided by a local agency. My staff knows me. I have trouble talking and sometimes they know what I want before I say it. I have to sit and lay in a certain position. The agency trains my staff. I was admitted to the hospital recently. The agency gave no instructions on how to care for me and told my staff they couldn't help. Fortunately my staff has stayed around the clock without pay. Can you imagine what it would be like to have people work with you who can't understand what you say or know how you sit and lay, or how to feed you?

Growing up, J.R. Logsdon spent a lot of time in hospitals.Born two months premature, he had holes in his heart, his lungs were underdeveloped, and doctors told his parents he would never walk, run, or go to public school because of a mild case of cerebral palsy. But with the help of therapy and God, he said, he has done all of those things and is now back in the hospital, but this time, he's the one in the scrubs. Logsdon, a 2007 graduate of Bluegrass Community and Technical College, started a job as a respiratory therapist at Clark Regional Medical Center in June.

The Boyle County Health Department has received a limited supply of H1N1 vaccine in nasal spray form. The LAIV (Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine) is approved for people from 2 through 49 years of age who are not pregnant and do not have certain health conditions. The health department staff are following the Center for Disease Control's recommendations for the following groups of healthy people to receive the vaccine first: those ages 2 through 24 years of age, those from 25 to 49 years of age and live with or care for infants younger than 6 months of age, or are health care or emergency medical personnel.

"Trumpeting Lurid Pulse" is a colorful and vibrant piece of blown glass artwork that Stephen Powell decided to donate to a local United Way agency that helps children. Powell says he's hoping the piece brings in a good amount for the worthwhile cause. The annual fundraiser for the Wilderness Trace Childhood Development Center will be held Saturday, and Powell's artwork will be the feature of the live auction. "We have lots of other items, but Stephen's will certainly be the highlight of the live auction," says Linda Singler, executive director of the center.

Val Gallutia was sticking by his students as they stuck him to the wall Friday afternoon. Students at Warner Elementary School took turns applying duct tape that held the principal against the wall of his school's cafeteria. The spectacle was the result of a fundraiser that brought in about $1,000 to help buy a wheelchair van for a student. First-grader Braden Petrucci suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair with very limited speech capabilities. The school-wide fundraising is aimed to buy the van for Braden's mother, Tenia Johnson, who currently has to assemble and disassemble her son's wheelchair each time they travel anywhere, storing it in the trunk of her Toyota Corolla.

I am a 55-year-old man with cerebral palsy. I can't do anything for myself, but my mind is normal. I live by myself with staff around the clock, provided by a local agency. My staff knows me. I have trouble talking and sometimes they know what I want before I say it. I have to sit and lay in a certain position. The agency trains my staff. I was admitted to the hospital recently. The agency gave no instructions on how to care for me and told my staff they couldn't help. Fortunately my staff has stayed around the clock without pay. Can you imagine what it would be like to have people work with you who can't understand what you say or know how you sit and lay, or how to feed you?

Val Gallutia was sticking by his students as they stuck him to the wall Friday afternoon. Students at Warner Elementary School took turns applying duct tape that held the principal against the wall of his school's cafeteria. The spectacle was the result of a fundraiser that brought in about $1,000 to help buy a wheelchair van for a student. First-grader Braden Petrucci suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair with very limited speech capabilities. The school-wide fundraising is aimed to buy the van for Braden's mother, Tenia Johnson, who currently has to assemble and disassemble her son's wheelchair each time they travel anywhere, storing it in the trunk of her Toyota Corolla.

Tenia Johnson turns the car off and pops the trunk. It must be reflex after all these years. Johnson's routine to transport her son is more complicated than most parents could imagine; the Rubik's Cube look of it makes tedious complaints about car seats seem like tic-tac-toe. After breaking it down and taking the wheels off, the wheelchair barely fits in the trunk of the Corolla - and it's just as much work getting it back out again when she reaches her destination. It's this mother's daily struggle that has the community of Warner Elementary School in Nicholasville set on raising the funds to buy her a wheelchair van. Braden Petrucci celebrated his seventh birthday Feb. 4; he's faced a challenging seven years that started 13 weeks early in 2006.

How well did you know the kids you played with? Back when you were young, you might've said you knew them well. You had sleepovers and shared secrets and toys. Their mothers were nice ladies whose names all started with “Mrs.” Their dads were always tinkering and loved to tease you about something-or-other. Yep, those kids you played with all the time? You knew all about them. Or did you? Cork O'Connor thought he'd seen the soul of the man he'd known since they were children.

The Boyle County Health Department has received a limited supply of H1N1 vaccine in nasal spray form. The LAIV (Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine) is approved for people from 2 through 49 years of age who are not pregnant and do not have certain health conditions. The health department staff are following the Center for Disease Control's recommendations for the following groups of healthy people to receive the vaccine first: those ages 2 through 24 years of age, those from 25 to 49 years of age and live with or care for infants younger than 6 months of age, or are health care or emergency medical personnel.

Imagine that you live in a small town and everyone knows who you are. Imagine all your life you thought you had cerebral palsy. However, you know cerebral palsy is not supposed to worsen. Imagine you suddenly become worse; your walking and your speech become worse. Your head throbs, and your eyes feel as though someone is stabbing and punching them. You are sent to a neurologist, and just by looking at you, he says, "You have dystonia. You can look it up and read about dystonia online.

A Chaplin woman has written a book that will benefit an equine-assisted therapy center in Lancaster. Kimberly Hawkins, 20, wrote "Angel Horse," which was illustrated by her father. The book is selling for $10, with proceeds going to Hooves of Hope Equestrian Center. The money will assist with the care of the therapy horses. Blair Cunningham-Newsome, owner of Crest View Farm and co-founder of the nonprofit organization, says Hawkins wanted to write about her horse, Blaze. Hawkins suffers from a rare form of cerebral palsy and has been engaged in hippotherapy for about eight years.

UPCOMING EVENTS Every first Friday and Saturday of the month, the city of Nicholasville will accept brush at the water plant on Shun Pike. Drop off times are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. For more information, call city hall at 885-1121. First Assembly of God, located at 1701 Wilmore Road, will hold a men's fellowship breakfast every second Saturday of the month at 9 a.m. The Wilmore Lions Club meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Wilmore United Methodist Church.

When Emery Kate Stone was born 14 weeks premature, it seemed like every inch of her body involved a tube or monitor of some sort. Today, the only tube involved with the 18-pound, 1-year-old is when Reba McIntyre's show is on television. "She loves Reba. She'll sit in my lap and watch it for 30 minutes," says her grandmother, Mary Stone of Junction City, who baby-sits the cheerful little girl. Emery's mother, Brooke, thinks the music sparks her daughter's interest. "She loves the beginning song.