When Emily was 13 months old, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.  Today, Emily sees physicians at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, where she also receives rehabilitation therapies and gets her braces.  Emily’s treatments have enabled her to get around with a walker.  Although her speech is affected by her condition, she communicates well.  It might take a bit more effort to understand her, says Emily’s mother, Tamara, but she adds that it’s worth taking the time to listen.

An Optimistic Outlook

Before having orthopaedic surgery on her leg a year ago, Emily told her parents she wanted to “check out” the hospital where she’d be staying.  Tamara arranged for Emily to tour Gillette.  During her visit, the little girl stopped by Surgery, where she shook everyone’s hands and said, “I’ll see you next week.”

The morning of surgery, Tamara asked Emily what she expected from the experience.  “I hope to make a lot of friends,” Emily said. 

“When Emily was in the hospital,” Tamara notes, “she had a wonderfully positive and gifted team of doctors and nurses who cared for and about her.”  Emily did so well that she was discharged in three days.  She was disappointed, however, because she missed the musical being performed later in the week at Gillette.

Advocating for Emily

Before Emily entered kindergarten, she was slated to attend a neighborhood school that was too large for her to safely navigate using her walker.  Results of gait analysis at Gillette’s Center for Gait and Motion Analysis showed that, when she walks, Emily uses 250 percent more oxygen than children who don’t have cerebral palsy.  That information helped the family persuade the school district to allow Emily to enroll in a smaller school.  “Now she’s in a place where she can function and learn,” Tamara says.