Off The Record
Joyful video of 4-year-old girl with cerebral palsy taking her first independent steps
Take a look at this joyful video as 4-year-old with cerebral palsy in Michigan takes her first independent steps!
Maya Tisdale, accompanied by her parents, brother and her lovely dog rises from the bench and takes her first steps after 4 years and 10 months!
In the video bellow, she falls back on the bench and then takes another set of steps.
Maya joyfully says: “I’m walking! … I’m walking! I’m walking! Yes! … I even took a big step.”
It was just a few seconds, but for Maya and her family it was something they will remember for life.
Bellow in the caption her family wrote on the video:
Maya was born four months early at 26 weeks and weighed 1 pound, 10 ounces at birth. Her fighting spirit in the NICU earned the nickname “Mighty Miss Maya”.
Before Maya turned 2 years, she was diagnosed with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy.
This type of cerebral palsy causes the muscles in her hips, legs and feet to be tight or spastic and left her unable to stand on her own for more than a few seconds, or walk without the use of walker.
In May after many research and appointments, Mighty Miss Maya and her family went to St. Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri, where she had a surgical procedure called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy.
The surgery’s goal was to “permanently reduce Maya’s spasticity, giving her the ability to live with less pain and greater mobility.”
The doctors said that someday she will be able to walk, but she has to do daily physical therapy that will be extremely tiring and demanding.
Watching this young hero walk after seven weeks after the surgery, left the family in shock and awe!
“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,” Tisdale said.
Even after these heroic few steps, Tisdale said Maya had a long road of learning ahead of her.
“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,” she said. “But to just to have those first steps and knowing that it’s possible is so great for her and our family.”
Please donate to this beautiful young hero HERE.
Watch this amazing video bellow:
First Steps – 4 years, 10 months ❤️ ❤️❤️ I can’t even put into words how we are feeling. Nothing seems to fit the enormity of this moment for us. We are beyond proud of our Mighty Girl. #sdrchangeslives #beemighty #impossibleisnothing #firststeps
Posted by Mighty Miss Maya – Will to Walk on Sunday, July 1, 2018
You can visit this young hero on her Facebook Page or Instagram Profile.
This article was originally inspired by ABC News.
