Cerebral Palsy

After hours of labor, Enso Martinez cried as his wife, Rebecca Fielding, was carried from their Waverly home on a stretcher en route to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Fielding, who had wanted to deliver her baby at home with the help of a midwife, assured her husband that everything would be OK. But she never expected to wait more than two hours for an emergency Caesarean section after being rushed to the hospital by ambulance that morning in March 2010. If a team of doctors and nurses had performed the surgery earlier, Martinez and Fielding contend, their son, Enzo, would now be a normal 2-year-old boy practicing new words and toddling across the floor.

It's a sunny morning in Westminster, and the pulleys are squeaking, the weights clinking as a half-dozen members of a small gym give the equipment a workout. Bouncy music comes though a stereo's speakers. A trainer encourages a client on a treadmill. A large banner on the wall reads, "Believe In Miracles!" Gina Gilligan-Della said she has seen more than her share of those. Gilligan-Della, 48, is the founding president of TheraFit Gym, a fitness center designed to serve individuals with severe physical disabilities from spinal-cord injury to the after-effects of stroke.

The Oscars took on a decidedly Maryland flavor last night, when local filmmakers Susan Hannah Hadary and William A. Whiteford took home the Documentary Short Subject Oscar for "King Gimp." "We are very small people from very far away on the other coast," a beaming Hadary said backstage, still reeling from a win she insisted she didn't expect. "Not many people knew we were doing this, so it's really a privilege." Added Whiteford: "We used to joke that this could happen. But, my God, this is intense."

Although I have never met John Plevak, I like him. No, I take that back - I love the man ("A night to remember for Kauffman," Oct. 24). Mr. Plevak is the men's soccer coach at Stevenson University. Being the sensitive, compassionate man he obviously is, he allowed the team manager to play in a match against Hood College. For those who are uninformed, the manager, Kyle Kauffman, has cerebral palsy. Coach Plevak saw the bond that Kyle, a senior at Stevenson, had forged with the members of the soccer team.

WASHINGTON -- The incidence of cerebral palsy in babies with very low birthweight was substantially lower among those whose mothers received injections of a certain drug in the hours before giving birth, two new studies show.The drug is an inexpensive natural chemical, magnesium sulfate, that obstetricians often inject as an intravenous infusion when a woman goes into labor prematurely. The intention is to try to stop the labor and to prevent convulsions from pre-eclampsia, a serious complication of pregnancy.

Christopher Henry Wiemer, a businessman who dedicated his life to helping children with cerebral palsy and other physically disabling conditions, died of cancer Thursday at his Easton home. He was 93.Mr. Wiemer, who was born in New York City, helped found the United Cerebral Palsy Association in the 1940s and was instrumental in organizing Baltimore's first cerebral palsy telethon in the late 1950s."He was very proud of the work he did with cerebral palsy," said his wife, the former Ruth Brunyate of Ruxton.

The dream was the most vivid Rebecca Andrade remembers ever having. There was a young, slender and attractive girl walking along a beach. "I knew this was going to be one of my kids," says Andrade, who was pregnant at the time. "She was going to be fine, but she was going to have some difficulties. I don't know where this came from, but I just knew it." Today, she says she believes the dream was a prophecy of her daughter, Kelli, one of twins born Jan. 29, 1999. The girls were born prematurely, and their survival was a matter of poor odds.

Inspiration is the word most used when describing a bubbly, energetic little goalkeeper named Ben Weetman.The 12-year-old member of the Millersville-based Chesapeake Bay Chiefs Pee Wee Hockey Club has cerebral palsy.Opposing coaches don't know it, and opposing players can't tell. Parents of the visiting team don't believe it when they find out. Yet Ben continues to prove himself game after game, causing observers to look on in amazement."People who play against him don't believe that he has cerebral palsy," said Wilbur Wade, an ex-Chiefs coach who has been in the program for 17 years.

RUXTON'S L'Hirondelle Club was transformed into a "wonderland" for Alice and hundreds of merry madcappers living life to its fullest at the annual Madhatter's Ball. Most of this year's guests really got into the spirit of the evening and wore hats of all sizes and descriptions to this black-tie benefit for United Cerebral Palsy.Whether you were there for the tasty food, open bar, silent and live auctions, dancing or games of chance, the choice was entirely up to you.And speaking of choice activities, have you noticed that cigar smoking is back, big-time?

When Annapolis gymnast Jacob Clemons finished his routine on the rings at last week's county boys meet, he dropped into the arms of Panthers coach Neill Russell as the pair tumbled to the mat.This wasn't the way Russell expected Clemons to dismount. The plan, it seems, was for the senior to wait for his coach to reach up and gently lower him, then turn to the judge and raise his right hand in the traditional salute."If he has any more surprises for me, he's going to have to tell me," Russell said, laughing.

At game's end, Kyle Kauffman scooped up the soccer ball at his feet at midfield, trotted over to the grandstand and, with a stage actor's aplomb, bowed to the crowd. Five hundred people, including Kauffman's parents, stood and cheered the college senior, who had fought through a lifelong neurological and physical disability - cerebral palsy - to play 18 long minutes in Stevenson's 2-0 victory over visiting Hood (3-10-2, 0-8 Middle Atlantic Conference) on Tuesday night. "This is something I will always remember," Kauffman said.

For Kyle Kauffman, cerebral palsy is a hurdle, not a wall. He has a high school diploma, a Facebook account and a dorm room at Stevenson, where he majors in public history and manages the men's soccer team. "Soccer is probably the most beautiful sport there is," said Kauffman, of Lancaster, Pa. But for his physical disability, he would have played the game. Tuesday night, when Stevenson hosts Hood at 7 p.m., Kauffman will get that chance. To honor their manager, the Mustangs will suit him up, introduce him with the starters and play the 21-year-old senior at forward for the first few minutes of the game.

Maryland's medical community is concerned about the potential fallout from two multimillion-dollar malpractice judgments awarded by Baltimore juries to families who blamed local hospitals where their babies were delivered for their children's disabilities. Doctors and hospital officials worry that juries, particularly in Baltimore City, are making decisions out of sympathy for sick patients rather than science. In the process, physicians said, these decisions may create an unrealistic benchmark for what future juries are willing to award — and lawyers are willing to seek — in such cases.

For the second time this summer, a local family has been awarded a huge sum of money by a Baltimore jury after claiming that negligent care by a local hospital caused their child to be born with a disability. A jury Tuesday awarded $21 million to a Glen Burnie couple whose son was born prematurely with cerebral palsy at Harbor Hospital in 2002, and is now, at age 9, "literally trapped inside his body" with a fully functioning mind but a severely disabled body, according to a family attorney.

My son Brent, who is 22, is a quadriplegic living with cerebral palsy and osteoporosis. Brent and I wanted to let you know how thankful we are for the recent outpouring of love and support coming from our Laurel community. We are writing this letter to "thank" our Laurel community for embracing us. We live on Laurel Avenue and have lived in our home since 1995. The house is on one level about 890 square feet and not accessible to Brent who is in an electric wheelchair. He is unable to access the bathroom, kitchen and limited space in his bedroom.

After hours of labor, Enso Martinez cried as his wife, Rebecca Fielding, was carried from their Waverly home on a stretcher en route to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Fielding, who had wanted to deliver her baby at home with the help of a midwife, assured her husband that everything would be OK. But she never expected to wait more than two hours for an emergency Caesarean section after being rushed to the hospital by ambulance that morning in March 2010. If a team of doctors and nurses had performed the surgery earlier, Martinez and Fielding contend, their son, Enzo, would now be a normal 2-year-old boy practicing new words and toddling across the floor.

Employees at companies throughout Carroll County wil celebrate summer Friday with a Casual Day to benefit United Cerebral Palsy.Participating firms include:* The Carroll County Department of Social Services;* Western Maryland College;* Westminster Bank and Trust;* and Carroll County Bank and Trust.More than 20,000 employees, representing more than 200 companies across Maryland, have made $5 donations to United Cerebral Palsy to buy the right to dress casually at work.Money from the event will be used to assist adults with disabilities in finding and maintaining employment in the community through United Cerebral Palsy's Supported Employment Program.

Mary A. Lietuvnikas, a registered nurse who held nursing and administrative positions at Bon Secours Hospital and later co-founded a school for children and adults with cerebral palsy, died of heart failure Sept. 9 at St. Agnes Hospital. The former longtime Arbutus resident was 85. Born in Lithuania, Mary Aldona Lietuvnikas immigrated to Baltimore with her family in 1923, settling near Union Square. She was a graduate of the old St. Martin's High School and Bon Secours Hospital School of Nursing.

A Reisterstown financial advisor was sentenced Friday to four years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for mail fraud in connection with defrauding clients, including a child suffering from cerebral palsy, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office announced. U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake also ordered Ralph Edward Thomas Jr. to pay $838,350 in restitution and to forfeit property in order to do so, including funds related to investment accounts, his home and his luxury cars.