About Emma
Emma is an identical twin and she has Cerebral Palsy as a result of a complication in the identical twin pregnancy. The complication was Twin-to-Twin Transfusion (TTT) and is rare and has no cure, and happens within the womb. As a result, Emma suffered some brain damage which resulted in an inability to walk. There is no cure for Cerebral Palsy, it can only be managed with physical therapy, and various surgeries.
Emma very successfully underwent multi-level orthopaedic surgery in February of 2009. The difference from pre-op to post-op has been amazing!! Her feet used to turn in toward one another so that her big toes would touch, and her knees would ‘scissor’ in toward each other, making it next to impossible for her to walk. After the surgery, where the derotated her femur bones and lengthened some tendons in her legs, her feet were straight ahead, her knees didn’t touch each other, and she was much more flexible. After learning how to walk all over again, Emma has made remarkable progress. See the before and after pictures of her first day in Reception and her first day in Year One.
Emma continues to do fabulously well, and is even using crutches (at times) when inside the house, but not as often as she’d like. She finds her balance and coordination very difficult because of the ‘tightness’ in her leg muscles caused by the cerebral palsy. Emma, however, is a very brave and active little girl, and she loves to be rough and tumble, and do activities like riding a bike and ballet class. However, Emma is not what is considered ‘independently ambulant’ and finds it faster and most comfortable to crawl and high-kneel walk around the house. It is for this reason that we are sending her to the USA for a surgery called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy, with the hope of providing her the opportunity to be the person she so wants to be.