Lexi's Life Changing Surgery
On January 17th, 2010 our lives were forever changed when our twins, Lexi and Ben were born 10 weeks early. Lexi suffered a brain bleed due to lack of oxygen shortly after birth and the two of them spent their first two months of life in the NICU. We were warned about how Lexi could be affected by her rough start and when we noticed that she was not developing and meeting milestones like her brother was, began therapies and countless doctor visits. Lexi was diagnosed with Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy - which causes high muscle tone in her lower extremeties. She relies on a walker and AFO's (leg braces) to walk, and needs assistance doing every day activites that we all take for granted. Through all of the therapies, doctor visits, uncomfortable orthotics, multiple rounds of botox injections in effort to battle her tone and everyday struggles that she faces, she is the most amazing little girl. She lights up a room with her smile. She has a fan club everywhere she goes. We literally cannot be out in public without someone stopping to talk to her and comment on her smile. She is wise beyong her years, but despite her challenges she is just like any other almost 7 year old little girl. She loves to sing and dance. She loves Helly Kitty and anything girly. She's on a cheerleading team and attends dance class. And as she gets older, she gets more and more self conscious. The tough questions have started..."why can't I walk like everyone else?", "why do my legs not work?", "why does walking make me so tired?".
Lexi has been approved as a candidate for a life changing surgery called a Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy . This is the chance to have increased mobility and better quality of life...the doctor feels that she would be able to ditch the walker and only require crutches to get around. This could be so huge for our girl and we have been praying that she would be a candidate. It will require at least a week long stay at St. Louis Children's Hospital and intense therapy for a while afterwards. The surgery itself is $40,000. Although insurance will help with some of these costs there will be deductibles, copays, travel, lodging, and other non-covered expenses. We would spend the rest of our lives being in debt if it meant a better life for our sweet girl, but any help towards these expenses would be truly appreciated. It's hard to ask for help, but this is worth more than our pride.
