Aaron Timmons, a 29-year-old man in the U.K., found karate by accident. Though he had been a fan of Japanese anime, most notably Dragon Ball Z, Timmons was not looking for karate lessons. He just happened to take a trip with his sister while she searched for boxing lessons. While sitting and watching her train, he heard noises coming from another class that attracted his attention. Going over to watch the karate students, he decided to ask for instruction.

“Disability or not, the criteria is still the same,” said Timothy Hill, Timmons’ instructor. “He’s not coming in here being pampered and just getting a belt. When he’s on the floor, he’s just like (everyone else).”

Timmons just attained his first belt rank beyond the standard white. He is immensely proud of the new red belt he earned.

Timmons’ mother, Beth Todaro, expressed her surprise at his accomplishment. “I had no idea that the discipline of karate could be such that a person with disabilities could master it,” she said. “Because of his core issues, he’s always physically fighting to keep his balance.”

Timmons has every reason to be proud. Not everyone could do what he has done, with or without cerebral palsy.

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Her parents, Joanne and David, were watching television a year ago when they saw the story of a boy with cerebral palsy who had travelled to the U.S. for pioneering Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery. That the little boy was able to walk again was enough to motivate the family to try for the same surgery.

Through months of hard work and fundraising the family managed to gather 70,000 pounds to pay for their trip to The Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.

“It was just by the off-chance we had seen the programme, and if we had not heard about it we may never have gone along that road,” said Joanne.

With her return home, Lily is going through rigorous physiotherapy three times a week. This comes after her four hour surgery in the states and another tendon lengthening surgery.

“Some people may expect her to be walking fully by now, but it is things like her sitting on the sofa on her own and the fact we can leave her to sit on a chair whereas before she would have just fallen off it. We can see as the weeks so on she is getting stronger,” said Joanne.

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22-year-old Nelson Miles might suffer from cerebral palsy and high-level autism, but “when he air drums, his disability goes away,” said his mother, Tuesday Miles.

When Nelson turned 16, the band showed up at his birthday party. “They’ve been in his life ever since,” said Tuesday. “He knows every move, every song.”

Tuesday told reporters that the band has taken him in, and said that Nelson memorizes every single step in a drum routine and meticulously repeats it.

Nelson owns 100 drum sticks, and plays in the air all the time, according to his mother. She knew what he needed for Christmas.

When Tuesday posted on Facebook that she wanted a used drum to buy for her son, the band leaped at the opportunity to help. They raised the money and bought the drum for him, showing up the day after Christmas at his house with the gift.

“He loves the band,” said Don Koegle, a supporter of the band. “He’s kind of been a fixture. He loves the drums, and we’re glad we’re able to do this for him.”

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The organization presented Logan Cook, 3, and Kameron Martinez, 14, each with an iPad 2 with Proloque2Go, software that provides communication solutions for people who have difficulty speaking.

The funding for the gifts came from officers of the Katy Police Department, members of the Katy Fire Department and other community contributors.

With cerebral palsy, dystonia, nystagmus, spasticity, epilepsy and exotropia, as well as a benign brain tumor, Logan Cook has a lot to overcome.

“He has full intellect and comprehension, but because of his brain damage form the CP, he can’t talk,” said his mother.

At speech therapy class, Logan is able to communicate using an iPad, but when he gets home, things can be frustrating. With an iPad of his own, that will change.

Kameron Martinez, with cerebral palsy, wants to communicate with people, she just has trouble doing so.

“She’s a very social girl – very outgoing, and she likes to say, ‘hi’ to people,” her father said. “They’ve just always had a hard time understanding her, and this will really help with that.”

It is easy to take for granted our ability to communicate. Giving the gift of communication to these two children is bound to make their lives much fuller.

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Blue is known best for being the season four winner of NBC’s television show Last Comic Standing. He has demonstrated amazing improvisational skills in his stand-up routines, and does much to break down stereotypes of people with disabilities.

“Having cerebral palsy, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do, but my friends always told me I was really funny and I discovered stand-up comedy,” Blue says. “So having a physical disability, I realized at a pretty young age that if there was anything I didn’t accomplish in my life, it wasn’t because I had cerebral palsy; it was because I was just being lazy.”

At least a half million people are affected by cerebral palsy in the United States. The disability is usually caused by brain damage before or during birth, sometimes in the first few years of a child’s life.

Blue’s story is inspiring, and any help he can provide to raising awareness and funds for cerebral palsy is appreciated.

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Cerebral Palsy Alliance has made arrangements with more than 200 online retailers, including some we might use here in the states, like Apple, Dell, and Clinique. When people make their purchases from these retailers through the Alliance’s e-store, the retailer will make a donation to Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

Not only do the customers get to take some of the stress out of shopping by avoiding lines and general store chaos, they also get to feel good about making their purchases because of the donations to such an important effort.

Christmas gifts are only a portion of what you can purchase using the service. You can buy baby products and clothes, rent cars, book vacations, and even pay for your airport parking.

It will be interesting to see if an idea like this pops up on our side of the ocean for cerebral palsy charities. Americans love to shop, and the more worthy causes that can jump on the opportunity the better off we will all be.

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A Somerset High School sophomore, in Richmond, Wisconsin, is demonstrating just how capable she is despite her disability.

Carrie Kulibert experienced a stroke only hours after she was born. It left her in a neo-natal intensive care unit for the first six days of her life, and after four months, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

Kulibert has limited strength and muscle control on the right side of her body, leaving her unable to perform tasks many of us take for granted, like cutting up her food or trimming her fingernails. Despite this, Kulibert has pushed forward in ways many students never do.

She types one handed, plays soccer, participates in forensics and mock trial and is even a cross-country runner. She is now her school’s third varsity runner, and placed 45^th overall in the Middle Border Conference Meet. Just recently, she obtained her driver’s license.

Kulibert’s condition requires that she consciously direct her right side at all times, so she does not have the luxury of training her right side then forgetting about it. Such mental fortitude is worthy of respect and admiration by all.

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Mikki Alli’s parents brought him over to the U.S. from Great Britain to have the operation done. The surgery is not readily available in the U.K., and is not covered by the country’s health system. Because of this, Mikki’s parents had to come up with over $50,000 to pay for the procedure. They did this through the contributions of friends, family and multiple fundraising events.

The operation, called selective dorsal rhyzotomy, involves the severing of nerves around the base of the spine and improves balance, standing and walking.

With Mikki walking, his mom says it allows them significantly more freedom to go to new places, and has made him much happier.

Does your child suffer from cerebral palsy that was caused by medical negligence?

The cost for taking care of a child with birth defects can be tremendous. If your child received a birth injury that led to their condition, you might be able to get compensation to help with the costs of care. Contact our cerebral palsy lawyers to see what legal options are available to you.

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One of the study’s authors said that other more serious infections and factors like a woman’s history of miscarriage or a family history of cerebral palsy were associated with increased risk to babies, but even then, the risk was low.

Pre-term birth, growth restrictions inside the uterus and being a twin or part of a larger set of multiples also increased the risk, as well as severe maternal infections.

With 10,000 babies in the United States being born a year developing cerebral palsy, the continuing search for causes is likely to continue.

The most significant infections linked to the disorder that were found were chicken pox and cytomegalovirus.

The study did not provide any new significant information about the causes of cerebral palsy, but it did reinforce what medical professionals already knew.

Medical negligence can lead to brain injury, which can contribute to the development of a variety of disorders, including cerebral palsy. Was your child the victim of improper care or negligence?

If your child suffered a brain injury at the hands of a doctor, you could be eligible for compensation.

Cappolino, Dodd, Krebs LLP – Cerebral palsy lawyers

The family of Christian Arroyo, born in 2003, filed a lawsuit stating that their son’s cerebral palsy and other birth defects were a result of negligent treatment by the government run clinic where he was born, and won a verdict for $29.1 million.

Their complaint stated that their son suffered from a brain infection for 12 hours, and that he exhibited every symptom of a brain infection, but medical staff missed the signs and failed to treat him with antibiotics.

The clinic, funded by the United States government, attempted to have the verdict thrown out on appeal, claiming that the case was filed after the statute of limitiations. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected that argument and upheld the verdict.

Negligence on the part of medical practitioners can destroy lives. This boy’s life will most likely never be what most would consider normal. It is encouraging though that his family will at least have the resources necessary to support him and provide the best possible care. Please let our cerebral palsy lawyers know what you think of this verdict in your comments below.