Cerebral palsy surgery tests Jack’s body of knowledge

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu

Taken from thewest.

2nd February 2008, 11:00 WST




The first day of school is an exciting day for most children but it has extra special meaning for Jack Day after a tough year in which the five-year-old had to learn to walk again.

Jack became the first child in WA to undergo a special operation for spastic cerebral palsy to improve his ability to walk, stand and sit.

He has been through more than 10 months of intensive rehabilitation, but two days out from his first day of school at Karrinyup Primary, his mother, Cora, said his recovery had been nothing short of remarkable.

“They said he shouldn’t be walking independently until after March but he’s been doing that for the last few months,” she said. “He’s just blown them away.”

The operation permanently cut selected nerves in Jack’s spinal cord which were sending a message to his brain that his muscles should stiffen.

At four years of age, Jack had to learn to crawl and walk again in his new body. But he can now sit up straight, walk and swim unaided.

BEATRICE THOMAS

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