Cerebral palsy patient able to walk, 19 years after surgery

A young woman in Cape Breton is now able to walk, 19 years after a medical procedure to treat a debilitating condition.

Alyssa MacLeod, 22, has cerebral palsy. 

Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term used to describe a range of symptoms that includes a lack of muscle control due to a brain injury.

In MacLeod's case, cerebral palsy took away her ability to walk and forced her to use a wheelchair.

She was just three years old when she had surgery for her condition.

Thanks to that surgery she is now able to walk.

She said her gait is a little awkward, but her walk is still steady and confident.

"I've done this so many times at the hospital," she said, as she walked across her living room floor. "I still don't make a full heel strike with my right foot. My physiotherapist thought my hips were uneven, but no they are fine."

She had the surgery — called selective dorsal rhizotomy — in 1994. The procedure involves stimulating nerves along the spinal cord. The ones that send the wrong message to the brain are snipped.

"The goal of the operation is not just to reduce the spasticity but also to improve the gait so you want to preserve as much of the good tone and eliminate the bad tone if you want in a simplistic way," said Dr. Jean Pierre Farmer, the neurosurgeon at the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Montreal.

Farmer is also the senior author of the study that followed MacLeod and 99 other children for the last 20 years.

Their progress was tracked, through adolescent growth spurts and into adulthood. MacLeod has had 47 medical procedures at the Shriners hospital.

She no longer uses braces or a quad cane. But it was the rhizotomy that put her on the walking track.

"If I didn't have that surgery chances are I would still be in a wheelchair and I wouldn't be able to walk. I credit Dr. Farmer and that particular surgery for helping me be able to walk as well as I do. I mean, I don't walk perfect, but I definitely walk a lot better than I would have if I didn't have the surgery," said MacLeod.

MacLeod is now completely independent. She's an ambassador for the Shriners and is working towards a science degree.

After she completes her degree, MacLeod said she plans to become a doctor and work at the Shriners Hospitals for Children.