Dereons Wish

Dereon North was a normal 2 year old little girl with lots of energy and the warmest heart. She played with her younger brother and 2 older sisters, and tried to keep up with them, just like any other toddler would do. One morning, after a long day of playing outside, Dereon's 5 year old sister realized that playing was the last thing that her sister wanted to do. She brought this to her mother's attention and immediately her mother knew that something was wrong. She wasn't moving, she wasn't talking, Dereon was not her normal self at all. The nurses and doctors could not tell her mother what was wrong with her daughter. After 2 misdiagnosis, and 2 months later, the doctors diagnosed Dereon with the rare neurological disorder, transverse myelitis, caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. Dereon, the normal 2 year old little girl, would not play, or run, or even walk with her siblings or friends again. After traveling from hospital to hospital, from Akron, to Cleveland, to Pittsburgh over a six month period, Dereon's mother still did not have an answer as to what had happened to her daughter or if she would ever be able to walk again. Dereon's family was devastated. Her mother began to do her own research and found the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore Maryland where a team of specialist would conduct intensive therapy sessions to help Dereon to walk again. There are many success stories at the Institute, one where a young man who initially did not have any control over his abdominal muscles, after the treatment, the young man was able to sit up, feed himself, push himself up onto all fours, and even stand with the use of special braces. Dereon's mother had finally found a piece of hope for her daughter and has been trying ever since to get Dereon to Baltimore. Dereon, after all she has been through for the past 4 years of her life, through all the pain and suffering, seems to still keep a beautiful innocent smile on her face. Dereon's only wish, as she told her mother, is to be able to walk again.  Could you please open your heart, and lend a hand to help Dereon's mother purchase a wheelchair accessible van, and also traveling expenses, to get Dereon to Baltimore. She needs your help.