Jenna's Fight against CP
Donation protected
I have been friends with Sharon since elementary school. Sharon has 3 of the most awesome caring children. Daniel who is in High School, and Emily and Jenna who are twins, whom just turned 12.
This is the story of Jenna.
Jenna was born with cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia. In Jenna's specific case, the muscles in her legs and a few along the left side of her body are constantly tight and do not relax. This means that she is unable to walk without leg braces and walker or canes and gets fatigued quite easily and must use a wheel chair for long distances. Indeed, nearly every aspect of Jenna's life is affected from needing help getting dressed to being late for every class at school because it takes her so long to cross campus. The spasticity constantly pulling on her body has also caused her left hip to dislocate (for which she had a hip rebuild surgery in 2013) and will continue to pull on her frame as she grows and cause future pain and damage requiring many more surgeries and eventually she will become wheelchair bound.
Jenna has is scheduled for the following surgery at the end of January....
SDR or Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy is a surgical procedure specifically beneficial to individuals with spastic diplegia. The neurosurgeon accesses the spinal column by removing one vertebrae and isolates the nerve rootlets causing the spasticity using electric stimulation and then cuts those affected rootlets, thereby virtually eliminating the spasticity altogether. Following this surgery, she will need daily intensive physical therapy for 6 months and then 3/week for the next couple of years to strengthen and lengthen muscles that were underutilized and shortened due to the spasticity. The surgery is performed my Dr. Park at St. Louis Children's Hospital. He has performed nearly 3,000 of these surgeries and only two had complications that resolved on their own. See http://www.stlouischildrens.org/our-services/center-cerebral-palsy-spasticity/about-selective-dorsal-rhizotomy-sdr for more detailed info.
Her prognosis is that after the surgery and physical therapy she will be able to walk in protected environments, such as at home, without any aids whatsoever, and in public places she will probably need only one forearm crutch for balance and stability. And best of all, the spasticity and risk of future damage to her body will by virtually eliminated!
Now here is where you come in...Insurance will only cover some of the cost of this surgery, incurring extensive medical costs, not to mention the travel costs, as they have to travel to St.Louis for the surgery and follow up visits. Lets see what we can do to take some of the burden off of this family. Any amount you can donate will help us be that much closer to making our goal. Thank You So Much!
Love Shari
This is the story of Jenna.
Jenna was born with cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia. In Jenna's specific case, the muscles in her legs and a few along the left side of her body are constantly tight and do not relax. This means that she is unable to walk without leg braces and walker or canes and gets fatigued quite easily and must use a wheel chair for long distances. Indeed, nearly every aspect of Jenna's life is affected from needing help getting dressed to being late for every class at school because it takes her so long to cross campus. The spasticity constantly pulling on her body has also caused her left hip to dislocate (for which she had a hip rebuild surgery in 2013) and will continue to pull on her frame as she grows and cause future pain and damage requiring many more surgeries and eventually she will become wheelchair bound.
Jenna has is scheduled for the following surgery at the end of January....
SDR or Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy is a surgical procedure specifically beneficial to individuals with spastic diplegia. The neurosurgeon accesses the spinal column by removing one vertebrae and isolates the nerve rootlets causing the spasticity using electric stimulation and then cuts those affected rootlets, thereby virtually eliminating the spasticity altogether. Following this surgery, she will need daily intensive physical therapy for 6 months and then 3/week for the next couple of years to strengthen and lengthen muscles that were underutilized and shortened due to the spasticity. The surgery is performed my Dr. Park at St. Louis Children's Hospital. He has performed nearly 3,000 of these surgeries and only two had complications that resolved on their own. See http://www.stlouischildrens.org/our-services/center-cerebral-palsy-spasticity/about-selective-dorsal-rhizotomy-sdr for more detailed info.
Her prognosis is that after the surgery and physical therapy she will be able to walk in protected environments, such as at home, without any aids whatsoever, and in public places she will probably need only one forearm crutch for balance and stability. And best of all, the spasticity and risk of future damage to her body will by virtually eliminated!
Now here is where you come in...Insurance will only cover some of the cost of this surgery, incurring extensive medical costs, not to mention the travel costs, as they have to travel to St.Louis for the surgery and follow up visits. Lets see what we can do to take some of the burden off of this family. Any amount you can donate will help us be that much closer to making our goal. Thank You So Much!
Love Shari
Organizer and beneficiary
Shari Bradley Teague
Organizer
Corona, CA
Sharon Kudla
Beneficiary