Madi Proving Those Doctors Wrong.....

"She'll never walk..."


I can't wait for Madi to walk up to those doctors who doubted her one day and show them they were wrong, though even if they weren't it wouldn't have mattered one bit.  She would still be every bit as amazing.  It just goes to show you that you can measure a child's level of function, but you can never measure their determination and inner strength.  

I can't believe how far she has come!  I am so proud of her!

(Please excuse my lack of make up, the mess, the bird that wouldn't get off my head, and the fact that this video was literally taken by an 8 year old :)).....

An Updated Video of Madi Walking in her HKFOs Using Arm Crutches

Madi told me that she wants to wear her "up ups" (aka hkfo's) and use her walking sticks to walk down the isle when she gets married (in about 20 years I say ;)).  I told her she better get to practicing!  She's been doing awesome and has been starting to balance so much better. She's now able to take a few steps on her own which is a huge accomplishment! Just a few months ago she couldn't balance, let alone take steps.  I think the therapeutic horseback riding is really helping her with her balance and core strength.  The doctors said she would never walk considering she is an L2 level.  One thing the doctors can't judge when they determine someone's level of lesion, however, is their level of determination; and that is what makes ALL the difference!  Some days she doesn't feel like walking, and I don't force her to, but mostly she really loves being up and mobile.  She's so very proud of herself too!  Here's a video of her and our new PT Kelly....

New Videos of Madi Walking

I just realized I never updated any videos, nor had I started including Ramya's walking videos.  I will start posting those below this post.  Look for the posts at the bottom in red :)

I just thought I'd share a few new videos of Madi walking.  She got her new HKFOs not too long ago, and she's adjusting quite well.  She has less stability in them, but also more movement.  She is able to kick her legs out a lot better now.  She got her first pair of HKFOs at about 22 months, but outgrew those pretty quickly!

This video was taken last week.  You can tell when she started getting tired because she started jumping.  Jumping in her HKFOs is one of her favorite things to do, though! 



This video is from today.  You can tell she has a lot more energy.  Towards the end she starts getting bored of her walker and tired, so we switched her to her shopping cart (which is the last video), which she had fun with.  The goal is to keep her up standing and practicing, but not to the point she gets frustrated and doesn't want to be up.  We change up her activities pretty often to keep her happy and engaged.



... and with her cart...



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Here's a video of Madi walking at 6 years old, using HKFOs and arm cruches....

http://www.aworthyjourney.com/2015/04/an-updated-video-of-madi-walking-in-her.html


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Ramya walking with her HKFOs and walker at 8 years old...

http://www.aworthyjourney.com/2015/04/a-video-of-ramya-walking.html
 

My Craft for Today

Madi has been wanting to practice walking with her forearm crutches, aka "walk-walk sticks" (she is still very wobbly and a long ways off from using them independently, but I'm always happy to help her practice :)).  They always have seemed so uncomfortable, though, because of the hard plastic that the arm cuff is made of.  I had some craft fir that did not sell at the garage sale that I had kept and I decided to try and make little covers for the arm cuff part, so that they will not dig in to Madi's soft skin.  Madi really likes the new cuff covers and calls them "kitty tails".  They seem to work pretty good!