sam's story
Samuels’ journey began on the 22nd May 2004 - a perfect 10, 10 pounds that is or over 4.510kg!
He was loved instantly and without hesitation, Sam was Angela and Phils first and much awaited baby, there had been 3 miscarriages before Sam was born. His delivery was 14 hours long with no major complications. During the short stay in hospital a nurse mentioned to his very tired mum, what is wrong with his arm? Being a first baby his mum did not know there was anything unusual with Sam, he appeared perfect.
The paediatrician was called and a few tests were done but Sam was given a clean bill of health and the new family was send home to get to know each other.
During the next 18 months Sam achieved all his milestones on or ahead of time. He did crawl a bit funny but the doctors said some kids do that and he did walk well but when he ran and danced his body just didn’t seem to move the same on both sides.
He always used his left hand.
At 20 months Angela took Sam to a paediatric physiotherapist and it was apparent after only a few minutes into the appointment that she had some difficult news to convey.
Sam was diagnosed with a right sided hemiplegia – Cerebral Palsy.
Crushed by this unexpected news Sams’ parents wondered what the future held and how they would cope. Angela was after all already 3 months pregnant with a younger brother or sister for Sam.
Daily physio was prescribed but eventually it was decided that Sam would need to wear an AFO which he called Arthur.
Arthur is a moulded fiberglass support that sits under his foot, has a hinge at the ankle and reaches up to his knee behind his calf. It enables active stretching of the calf as Sam plays thus reducing the time and frequency of manual static stretching required. It does not stop the spasticity but helps reduce the speed at which the tone in his calf increases.
Sam wears Arthur more than 5 hours everyday and has had 3 rounds of botox injections and 2 rounds of serial plasters - lasting for 3 weeks each time.
With concentration and constant reminding Sams’ right arm does manipulate and grasp objects, it is a little shorter than his left and does not completely straighten.
Sam has received 80 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT).
What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders characterized by loss of movement or loss of other nerve functions. Cerebral palsy disorders are caused by injuries to the brain that occur during fetal development or near the time of birth. In Sams’ case he has a fully formed brain so it was concluded after MRI that he had a stroke at birth. Cerebral palsy affects approximately 2 to 4 individuals for every 1000 births.
Why Right-sided Hemiplegia?
The left hemisphere of the brain controls the movement of the right side of the body. It also controls speech and language abilities for most people.
A left-hemisphere stroke often causes paralysis of the right side of the body. This is known as right hemiplegia.
Someone who has had a left-hemisphere stroke may also develop aphasia. Aphasia is a catch-all term used to describe a wide range of speech and language problems. These problems can be highly specific, affecting only one component of the patient's ability to communicate, such as the ability to move their speech-related muscles to talk properly. The same patient may be completely unimpaired when it comes to writing, reading or understanding speech.
In contrast to survivors of right-hemisphere stroke, patients who have had a left-hemisphere stroke often develop a slow and cautious behavioral style. They may need frequent instruction and feedback to complete tasks.
Finally, patients with left-hemisphere stroke may develop memory problems similar to those of right-hemisphere stroke survivors. These problems can include shortened retention spans, difficulty in learning new information and problems in conceptualizing and generalizing.
Treatment
Traditional treatments include daily physiotherapy, wearing AFO’s, Botox injections (every 6 months) and serial plaster casts (annually).
Sams' greatest and most long term improvements have come through HBOT.
Treatment Goals
To achieve 150 hours of HBOT by the end of 2008 $10050.
