Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month

Did you that March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month? In honor of this, I'll be doing a couple of posts this month focusing on Cerebral Palsy. People tell me all the time that they don't know very much about it so here is your chance to learn a little bit about it! 


First up, let’s define Cerebral Palsy.


To be very brief and sum it up in one sentence; Cerebral Palsy (which I am going to refer to as CP) is a condition caused by injury to the brain resulting in loss of oxygen right before, during, or after birth. There are varying degrees of CP from mild to moderate to severe. 


Now some facts about CP......

• Approximately 765,000 children and adults in the US manifest one or more of the signs of CP. 
• 8,000 – 10,000 children are diagnosed with CP each year. 
• CP is the second most common neurological impairment in childhood.
• Currently, there is no cure for CP but treatments and therapies (such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, communication devices, medications, braces, etc.) can be used to manage CP and help a child reach his/her full potential. 
• A number of other medical conditions are associated with CP such as mental impairment, seizures or epilepsy, and impaired vision or hearing. 
• 45 % of all children with CP develop epilepsy. (Noah has epilepsy too.)
• The average lifetime cost for a person with cerebral palsy totals nearly $1 million over and above the costs experienced by a person without the disability.
• 20% of children diagnosed with congenital cerebral palsy developed CP due to a brain injury during the birthing process.

Do you have a question about CP? Now's your chance to ask! Simply leave it in a comment or email it to me at coleyscorner(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll do my best to answer it or find the answer in a later post.


Sources:
Cerebral Palsy Source 
United Cerebral Palsy Organization