United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Thanks Jessica for posting this!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2955792.stm

Francine, I have tears in my eyes. Although Elizabeth is doing very well and I cannot complain given the severity of her injury at birth, I'm starting to get those awful feelings again as I see her struggle to swim and play baseball. She wants so badly to be on swim team with her big sister...and I don't know if she'll ever make one lap doing breast stroke, the easiest one for her. She has gone from one crawl stroke, to two, to three crawl strokes in a row this week. How can I complain? We're seeing progress. It's just that it's so effortless for other kids and here's Elizabeth trying to drag her arm out of the water 3x. At t-ball I help her put her affected hand in her glove but she can't raise it up to catch anything. That little glove weighs too much. So, reading this post makes me cry for joy and pray for a cure to all of this paralysis. God bless our children and the challenges they face.

Karen,
I would like to tell you that I am 16 and have just found a good swimming technique. It only involves using my unaffected arm and my legs, I do simmilar to the breast stroke only I just use my left arm to propel me, I even beat one of my cousins in a race

For the baseball/softball thing teach her to catch and throw with one hand, it works for me I play on the varcity softball team at my school.after a little practice she will be as good if not better than anyone else on the team, and she will be just as fast as them too. I started playing when I was in the third grade and I fell in love with the sport. (keeps me out of trouble too)
Hope I helped you if you need to talk email me at hope16_05@yahoo.com
Amy

Hi guys, you might want to check this link from the same site http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/610528.stm its specifically about peripheral nerves and the work being done by Prof Carlstedt in London- there is a real player link in the top right hand corner where you can see and hear some of the staff from Stanmore in London talking about their work with bpi, including babies with the injury. There is a bit of a tbpi talking too, for those who have never seen one, interesting stuff :0)

Hey, my 7 year old daughter played coach pitch baseball for the first time this year. She loved it, they were very patient with her about using just her right hand to catch the ball and throw. She learned to stop the ball, drop the ball and glove and then throw it all with her right hand. It took her until her second to the last game to finally hit the ball but it was so worth it. Everyone cried for her, ever the parents on the opposite team and it was a sweet memory for me. And it seemed to help strengthen her left arm some. Now this fall we are gonna try soccer. She is excited about it.
Jana