Girl with cerebral palsy takes her first steps at age 4

            CP Child Walker

After a successful surgical procedure earlier this year, a 4-year-old Michigan girl with cerebral palsy took her first steps, and her proud mother recorded every “step” of the way.

little girl walks alone


Health reports that Maya Tisdale, also known on social media as “Mighty Miss Maya,” was captured on Instagram by her mother last Monday as she walked several steps while in her family home in Traverse City. The little girl, wearing pink support braces on her legs, smiled and laughed as she took her first steps.
“I’m walking! I’m walking!” Maya shouted as her mother recorded the monumental incident.

Walking for Maya is a great accomplishment, as physicians doubted she would ever be able to take any steps alone. Maya was born four months prematurely in 2013 and was welcomed into the world weighing only a pound.

When she turned one, Maya’s doctor diagnosed her with spastic cerebral palsy. The diagnosis made it almost impossible for the little girl to ever stand, much less walk without assistance.

She was “unable to stand on her own for more than a few seconds, or walk without the use of walker,” Maya’s family said on their site.

Maya, however, has always been independent and according to her mother, always wanted to do the things her older brothers did, especially walking on her own.

“We’re always trying to help her and she always says, ‘No, I can do it!'” Maya’s mom told ABC. “She doesn’t need or want help to do things. She’s going to try to do it herself.”

In May, the family made a trip to St. Louis, where Maya underwent Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy, a surgical procedure that would “permanently reduce Maya’s spasticity, giving her the ability to live with less pain and greater mobility.”

“This surgery is the only option to permanently reduce Maya’s spasticity, giving her the ability to live with less pain and greater mobility,” the family said on Maya’s YouCaring page, set up to help raise funds for the little girl to undergo the procedure.

After surgery, Maya’s physician warned that it would long, hard sessions of physical therapy before Maya would be able to walk. Yet, within less than seven weeks after the surgical procedure, Maya proved that she was determined to walk.

“We expected where Maya was before surgery that it would take her at least six months to a year to get to independent steps and here we are seven weeks after. … She’s just kind of blowing it out of the water,” the proud mom told ABC.

Maya’s mother said that although her little girl is walking, she still lives with cerebral palsy and goes through the daily challenges that come along with having the disorder. The family plans to keep Maya in physical therapy for most days each week, in hopes that the little girl will become stronger and master the ability of walking independently even further.

Maya still has CP (cerebral palsy). She still has the damage in her brain and she still has some tightness in her legs.. … She’s going to continue with physical therapy five days a week, just like we’ve been doing, and get stronger and practice her skill of walking. But to just to have those first steps and knowing that it’s possible is so great for her and our family.”

To learn more about spastic CP, including symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options, refer to our article, Spastic Cerebral Palsy.

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Blood Test May Serve As Early Predictor For Cerebral Palsy Child

New research suggests that a blood test could one day help doctors flag children with cerebral palsy far earlier, allowing young kids with the condition to get a head start on intervention.

In a new study, researchers identified differences in a panel of microRNAs — molecules instrumental in the developmental process — in premature babies who later developed abnormal muscle tone, a symptom associated with cerebral palsy.

“If our promising results are confirmed in larger, multicenter studies, screening preemies for microRNA biomarkers shortly after birth could allow intervention before cerebral palsy manifests, which is typically at 18 months to 2 years of age,” said Maria Dizon, a neonatologist at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and a senior author of the study published in the journal Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation International.

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Though babies who are born premature or at low birth weight are considered to be at higher risk for cerebral palsy, researchers say the disability remains difficult to spot right away.

For the study, researchers assessed blood samples from 31 babies born premature and followed the children for 18 months. They found that kids with abnormal muscle tone had a considerable number of changes in their microRNA.

“The next step will be to validate in larger studies that our top 10 microRNAs from the abnormal tone group can reliably predict abnormal tone and cerebral palsy wheelchair. We would then have conclusive evidence that these microRNAs can serve as early biomarkers for cerebral palsy in preemies,” Dizon said.

If validated, she indicated that the findings could be significant for children with cerebral palsy.

“With earlier diagnosis and therapy, the chances of achieving better motor function are much greater since the central nervous system is most plastic in infants,” Dizon said.

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