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(TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.) – A 4-year-old with cerebral palsy in Michigan recently stole the hearts of countless people when his family posted a video of his first trip independently.
older brother and companion dog by her side and gently squeezing her, Maya Tisdale, beaming from one ear to the other, rises from a blue bench in their home in Traverse City and took a few steps. In the video, she sits down but not before celebrating the big step.
"I'm walking! … I'm walking!" Says Maya in the video posted on social media on Sunday. "I'm walking! Yes!
The moment only took a few seconds, but for his family and for Maya, it was a memorable trip.
Her mother, Ann Tisdale, told ABC News on Wednesday that Maya was born four months earlier at 26 weeks and weighed 1 pound, 10 ounces at birth. Her fighting spirit at the NICU earned her the nickname "Mighty Miss Maya" among family and friends.
Before being 2 years old, however, Maya was diagnosed with cerebral palsy spastic diplegia. "the muscles of her hips, legs and feet were tense or spasmodic" and left her "unable to stand alone for more than a few seconds, or walk without the help of" a walker ", according to the website of the family. ] Tisdale said that despite the diagnosis, Maya remained very independent, wanting to do everything her older brothers did.
"We always try to help her and she always says, 'No, I can do it!'" She said. "She does not need or need help to do things, she will try to do it herself."
Tisdale said that even though Maya was using # 39; a walker since she was 1 years old, Maya really wanted to walk independently.
So, in March, after much research and she was hospitalized at the St. Louis Children's Hospital of Missouri, where she underwent surgery called selective dorsal rhizotomy.
According to the family's website, the goal of the surgery was to permanently reduce Maya's spasticity.
Tisdale said that after the operation, Maya's doctor had told them that she would be able to walk "someday," but not without a grueling physical therapy.
Maya walks – just after seven weeks post operative – left her family in shock and disbelief.
"We were expecting to know where Maya was before the operation that it would take her at least six months to a year to get to the independence stages and we are here seven weeks later. She said that Maya had a "long learning path" in front of her
CP (Cerebral Palsy) She still has the damage in her brain and she still has some tightness in her legs. She will continue physical therapy five days a week, just as we did, and become stronger and practice her ability to walk, "she said." But just to have those first steps and know that it is possible is so great for her and our family. "
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