Teen Carries Brother With Cerebral Palsy.

A terrific story of Family support, power of love and sibling bond

Posted on May 14, 2014

Image courtesy of Google Images and The Huffington Post

Braden Gandee is a 7 year old boy who has trouble walking on his own, but his older brother is there 

 to carry him --- and to fight for his future. Hunter Gandee who is 14 years old, actually carries his 

younger brother Braden who has cerebral palsy. Braden usually walks with the assistance of a walker. If you are not familiar with cerebral palsy, it is a neurological disorder that affects body movements and muscle coordination.
In their hometown, Hunter took it upon himself to educate the people about Braden's condition. On June 7th and 8th, he will carry his brother 40 miles to demonstrate "the physical and mental challenges faced everyday by those affected by cerebral palsy" reported The Huffington Post.

The walk will be difficult, but Hunter and Braden will have their parents drive along the route with them for support. Hunter, who is a wrestler for his high school is fairly strong and has had plenty of practice over the years carrying his brother. "I wrestle, I know what it is to work hard, but it's nowhere near how hard he has to work everyday" Hunter told The Huffington Post about his brother.

Hunter is not just doing the walk for his brother, but to help raise money for the Cerebral Palsy Research Fund. By doing this, Hunter hopes to improve the quality of life for everyone with cerebral palsy.

 Nigerian Parents with special needs kids should know that nurturing and taking care of the marriage is very important. A broken family would hurt a special needs child even further. All family members should pitch in to help give the parents some time to spend alone even if it is only a few hours for a special dinner,outings from time to time.

 Moreover, a typical healthy sibling needs a lot of support as well in the family of a special needs child. I often refer to these kids as “silent victims”, needing a lots of reassurance. Parents need to make sure that each have some alone time with the typical sibling, to discuss issues, watch a movie or just play a game with them so they know they are important too and so they don’t resent their sibling and offer support to him.

Culled from abcnews.go.com

God only gives Special Kids to Special families.

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Down syndrome

Down syndrome (trisomy 21) is the most common diagnosable form of developmental disabilities. There are three types and they include: non disjunction, translocation and mosaicism. Though  they all have almost similar features.

Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes, for a total of 46. But a baby with down syndrome has an extra chromosome [47 instead of 46]. This extra genetic material causes problems with the way their bodies develop.

Physical features of children with down syndrome include: a short, stocky stature with a small head and flattening of the back and of the face. The nose is recessed and there is an upward slant of the eyes, a simian crease in the palms and general low muscle tone which may delay milestones.

They may have medical problems too, such as heart defects,leukemia, vision, hearing problems and orthopedic problems in fact they have a higher incidence of lung and respiratory tract infection and digestion problems like constipation. It could occur with autism.

Down syndrome can be identified during pregnancy by prenatal screening followed by diagnostic testing, or after birth by direct observation.In the U.S and other developed countries,since the introduction of screening,pregnancies with the diagnosis are terminated.

Kids with Down syndrome tend to grow and develop more slowly than other kids do.They may start crawling,walking or talking later than other babies.special help,like Occupational Therapy,physical Therapy and Speech Therapy,can give kids a push with their walking and talking skills.

The average IQ of a young adult with Down Syndrome is 50,equivalent to the mental age of a 9-10 year old child,but this varies widely.

Therapy and education has been shown to improve quality of life.Some children with Down Syndrome are usually streamlined while others need more of one-on-one specialized Montessori like education,some actually graduate from high school and even post secondary school education.

Life expectancy  is around 50-60 years with proper medical care.