“Aleah suffered a brain injury at the age of 4 months due to aspiration phenomena. As a result, she suffered a brain injury resulting in cerebral palsy. She also had seizures, but has been seizure free for 7 years. While she is making great strides and is really a miracle, the ability to do things that her siblings are doing would be a huge step forward. Her vision is good enough to ride a bike. Our family consists of three kids. Rayna 12; Aleah 8 and Jayden 6. The kids love to ride bikes around the neighborhood and parks. Aleah tries to partake but is really left out since all she can handle is a tricycle that she has outgrown. Her knees are above the handle bars. Her siblings try to include her, but it falls short. We take her in a wagon, but that is not the same and she knows she is missing out. If we were allowed to have a grant for the big Tricycle we could do outings to the parks near to us that have great trails that are flat but it would also mean the world to Aleah to have some freedom.”
My daughter is a miracle. When everything happened she spent over 30 days in Children’s Mercy Hospital. Many weeks in the NICU. The doctors were varied on what she would be able to do. I believe she has surprised them all. Dr. Gupta gives her botox injections which I believe has enabled her to walk and even run. She tries everything. Shows us how she can exercise. Helps to clean the house. She doesn’t know any better, so she is doing it her way. In kindergarten she started out at about 18 months level. By January (4 months later), they said she was at a 39 month level.
A note of encouragement from Aleah’s mom:
I would like folks to know that you never give up on your child or any child for that matter. She is the happiest person I know. When she walks down the hall at school everyone knows her name and her smile. She may not be very verbal, but she has new words all the time. Especially “Thank you”. My parents went to grandparents day last Friday and several people stopped them and asked if they were related to Aleah. When they said yes, they said we love her. She is so special. We don’t know how much she will develop but right now, the sky’s the limit.
The sky is the limit for Aleah – and now, so is the road….because Aleah is getting her adaptive bike thanks to our many generous and loving donors. Please help other Variety KC kids like Aleah – donate today at varietykc.org/donate/
