Standing for Scarlett

This is Scarlett, she is a 7 year old girl born with Spastic Cerebral Palsy.
She is the most bright spirited, determined, motivated, and outgoing little girl.

Scarlett was born at 28 weeks gestation premature in Toronto and weighing 2.2lbs.  After 1 month, she was diagnosed with Periventricular Leukomalacia, PVL.  The doctors mentioned this would later develop into Cerebral Palsy. 
At that time, she stayed at Mount Sinai hospital in the NICU for 3 months in an incubator until discharged to go home.

From the day she got home, Scarlett started physiotherapy 2 times a week, and occupational therapy once a week. Once she reached the age of  2, she also needed to have speech therapy every couple weeks. All of her therapies had continued for almost 4 years until she began school.
Once Scarlett turned 1 year old, she received her AFOs (leg splints).  Every year since then, she gets fitted for a new  pair as she continues to grow like a weed!  Scarlett wears them everyday to maintain her lower legs and ankle in the proper position, and assists her to walk. 


Cerebral Palsy(CP) causes muscle spasms, leg and spinal deformities and hip dislocation.  Scarlett has a grade 3 level of cerebral palsy which is one of the higher levels of CP.  It affects her ability to walk independently, her balance and endurance.  She also has lots of difficulty with her common daily activities, such as, getting herself ready, transferring in and out of a chair, feeding, and toileting.  She also requires extra equipment at school and home for her to achieve certain activities and maintain proper support. 

She has now been approved for a life changing surgery called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), which will permanently remove the spasticity from her legs so she is able to accomplish more activities of her daily life. After this truly amazing procedure, Scarlett will need intensive therapy for 1-2 years to retrain her gait and build endurance.

Scarlett has dreams to be able to skate by herself, walk independently, fly on a plane, and play with her friends without having limitations. We have hopes of her living a better quality of life, improving her mobility, strength, endurance, and stopping any further progression of leg or spinal deformities.

Thanks to Dr. Ibrahim and the medical teams at Sick Kids and Holland Bloorview, these dreams will become a reality! Scarlett will be receiving her surgery on June 5, 2020. She is required to stay on bed rest for one week at Sick Kids, then be transferred to Holland bloorview rehab centre and will be involved in 3 months of intensive therapies until she is able to head home. 

Since the age of 6 months old, Scarlett was involved in extensive multiple therapies. We feel that her current extensive therapy has done Scarlett so well, and we want to continue with it after SDR to enable her to reach her goals. This is where we are reaching out to the community for help.

We are working to raise $40,000 to ensure Scarlett can continue participating in this much needed therapy. Also, to purchase home gym equipment, and to help support the family to travel back and forth, and stay with Scarlett for her 3 months stay at Holland Bloorview.  This therapy is not covered by OHIP or private insurance.


We can only hope, feel and pray as much positivity that the future will hold a better life for her. We are asking the community for help to assist the family.  Absolutely any help is greatly appreciated! 

Thank you so much for all your support!