United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi Gabriele,
Great idea! My daughter is 10 and is active. She does have good use of her fingers and arm on her affected side - but has a moderate injury.

She plays soccer, all positions - even great at goalie (I think best goalie on team...)
Swim team - seems as she gets older she's having a harder time keeping up with the other kids but that's just when she's racing them. She loves to swim in general.
Basketball - we'll see how she does. She's never played on a team but is signed up to start this month. She shoots pretty much one handed but is good and very fast.
Ping Pong and Air Hockey - she's good.
Pool - she has potential!! She just started getting interested and seems to be pretty good.
Fuse Ball - great at it - better than me which I guess doesn't say much....
Rock Climbing Walls - harder for her to do but she is able to make it to the top and ring the bell. She is slightly scared of heights and has a problem with balance - but she is competitive and still makes it.
Roller Blading/skating - she's fast and good at it but when she falls she falls hard.
Badmitten - fairly good at it
Volleyball - she's quick but does have trouble - especially serving one handed.
Jump rope - it's become a quest - she can't jump consecutively more than 5 jumps right now but she's still improving.
Running - although she's faster than most kids her age - she only runs when she has to for sports or school - she loves to skip though!:)
Fishing - not very experienced but she loves it.

I'm sure there's more but this is just what I can think of right now.
Christy

Ah,aaah! To Tessie258
So I knew air - hockey. Well my arm is not good enough to play, I can play with the other (the good one) it's really funny , I agree with you.
About arm position, I remember when I was 10 I had a surgery to turn my right arm position into a more comfortable one (the arm was turned because, for example, it did often hit my body side when I was running). Could it be the same? Does he use his arm to climb ? Is he able to raise is affected arm?
You answer just if you like

Hi Gabriele,
Your English is terrific by the way.
For those really into birding, like me, we keep lists.
A life list is a list of when you first saw and identified a species, so it consists of the bird species, the date, and the place. So for example, when I had my surgery in Texas last March, I made a point of going down to Aransas National Wildlife Reserve just to see the whooping cranes (an endangered species) and now have on my life list (Whooping crane, March 27, Aransas National Wildlife Reserve, Texas). A lifer is just a new bird added to the list.

Birders also keep other lists, birds within a state, birds on a trip, North American birds, World birds, birds in a certain year. It can get pretty obsessive! But most of us keep a life list.

What is wonderful about birding as a hobby is that it gets one outside noticing nature, you can combine it with any other outdoor activity, it can be done alone or with a friend or group, and it is a life long interest.

Ciao,
Nancy

Thanks to CW too.
I would like to know if she can raise her affected arm.
Just if you want to answer of course.
Sorry now I must leave, try to read later, or tomorrow.
Gabri

Terrific by the way, ???
What do you mean? That is bad ?? How you dare???
=)

Hi Gabriele,
Yes she can raise her arm a little higher than shoulder level (between shoulder and straight up) Please feel free to ask me any questions and I'll try to answer,
Christy

Nancy - thanks for explaining bird watching - I didn't know very much about it and it sounds exciting and interesting!!

terrific is awesome, excellent
where are you from?
You would LOVE JennyB's site if you can try to get on over there, its GREAT,excellent awesome and terrific
My kid affected with BPI is 3 1/2 He is less balanced than my other kids were at that age but he practices running so much that he seems to not be bothered at all and likes to run also,
He likes to skateboard on a small board and loves to scooter
loves to swim and loves to climb trees,he can reach his arm pretty well -he just cant use it to bear weight so...I pray alot, haha, I used to make him wear a helmit when he climbed the tree but he wont do that anmore so, I just pray, haha
I attribute the risk taking behavior with alot of his good function, balance and recovery.

Well, this thing about the balance-while-running it's really strange: so, it depends on what?

Anyway, I am italian (I live in Rome), and I am trying to practice some new sport, in addition to those I wrote down at the beginning of the topic.
But: my right arm does not raise at all. I just have a good biceps.
So I tried with canoeing, but I would need to modify the boat not to take all the weight of the paddle on my good left arm: it seems to others I am asking for the moon.
I also tried with hiking mountains with skies, but italian alpine club they say I ask for the moon...
..I know it but sometimes (rarely may be) if you don't ask for the moon, you never get the moon.

Can I suggest something to people living near mountains and who likes walking and hiking?
Well, I found it's easy and amazing the cross country skiing, if you never tried. It's possible even with just one arm, (but I think even without arms at all, if you don't have to climb hard mountains). Try and tell me, winter is at the door (except for the other emisphere, of course hi, hi, hi)

I e-mailed you.
Where I live there is no snow only desert!!! Even in winter it only gets about 30-40 degrees for the absolute low usually 60's! I've never skiied or done anything like that!! Did you have problems in your area from the earth quakes? Hope all is well.
T.

Hi again Gabriele, sorry you couldn't register at the tbpi site. Try emailing Liz Black at BlcE@aol.com , she is the adminstrator and can help you. One of our regular posters is a climber and got his tbpi climbing an ice cliff, he has continued to climb one handed. Another one of our members had abseiled one handed down a high building for charity, others drive gokarts or motorcycles one handed, I ride a horse, a girl in South Africa has won several prestigious photo contests against professional photographers-we are a high achieving bunch! Some of us have tried skiing and Rachael Battersby, tbpi from New Zealand won 3 gold medals for downhill skiing in the last Paralympics.

I found this link to a site for a British climber who often climbs with no hands at all as well as one hand, most climbing equipment is designed for one handed use and I'm told it's possible to climb this way. http://www.johnnydawes.com/gallery/waterslide.htm
Keep trying to access the tbpi message board, it's worth it, there are some inspirational people posting there.