Letter from a mother of a child diagnosed with CP from Toronto:

The long journey to the first step

When he was seven moths old, we were told that our son Avromi had moderate to severe CP. This diagnosis was a shock! When we had left the neo-natal department where Avromi was for the first six weeks of his life, we were reassured that even though he was only three pounds, and born at 27 weeks of gestation, he was a perfectly healthy little boy. We were bewildered. What was CP and how would it affect Avromi’s life? 
A nurse at the Hospital for Sick Children tried to help us grasp how this level of CP would manifest itself. She entered the room sitting in a wheel chair, bent over sideways. We drove home in perfect silence with all the emotions that one can imagine, grief, anger, guilt, etc.

I realized I only had two options. One was to go on with life and accept this dreadful diagnosis, to learn to live with a very disable and disfunctioning little boy. The second choice was to recognize that we were my son’s only advocate. We would travel the world and look for something, someone, somewhere that would help us help Avromi be the most he could be.

I started with the regular NDT, went to on to Peto Conductive Education in Hungry, on to Craniosacral therapy at Apledger Institute in Palm Beach, Glenn Doman Centre in Philadelphia, etc., none on which I felt made much of a difference. I knew I could not try anything for more than 2 months because time was of the essence.
 
I travel to Caracas, Venezuela to meet Ramon Cuevas. It took three sessions with this skillful therapist to convince me that I have finally found a method that I was willing to stick with and that would help me.

MEDEK uncovers and maximizes any movement and energy that lies dormant within the child. This physical therapy, unlike any other, does not let the child to be passive. The child as no choice but to work hard with whatever power he has.   He repeats these movements over and over again, until it becomes part of him.  Sure enough at first it is a frightening experience for the child to be put in positions which he has never been before.

This results in much crying and resistance to the physical therapy. Do not give up! For once the child starts feeling confident and begins trusting the very gentle and secure hands of Ramon Cuevas, he loves MEDEK since he can see and feel the progress itself. All Avromi’s progress was very, very slow, but steady. His first independent steps were an absolute miracle.

He is now seven years old and walks to school by himself where he is totally integrated. Avromi is aware of his limitations, and is constantly learning from Ramon Cuevas how to compensate for them. He can now walk up and down the stairs without holding on, he can walk up and down hills and sidewalks.

Avromi will probably not become a waiter or a sports player by profession; however, he can be a doctor, lawyer, professor or judge. He will be a wholesome, productive, extraordinary human being. MEDEK has instilled in him confidence and happy disposition that many non-handicapped children would envy.

He walks with his head up and heart uplifted.  I would not like to even think where we would be to day without Ramon Cuevas and MEDEK. Any skeptical caregiver, and skeptical one should be, will question me and say what proof do I have that MEDEK made the difference. My answer to him is I don’t know, but I certainly would not want to have been without it and thank God every day I found MEDEK.

L.H.G