Hi my name is Jarrad. I have mild Cerebral Palsy that mostly affects my left side so I can walk and talk it's just mainly the pysical part that takes it out of me. When I was six I had major hip surgery and I've had surgery on my left foot and I've had tendon realeases. I used to use a K-walker until year six and I also use a wheelchair for long distances. When I was little I tried to use crutches but I didn't have the balance for them. I live in Australia in a little mining town called Newman. I go to a mainstream school and most of the kids at my school don't have disabilties. I am about to have Botox in my left arm. I started doing weights in year 7 to improve my stamina and just recently I have taken up boxing training to improve my balance. Sports is ok but not really that fun sometimes because all the other kids just pass it to each other but not to you. My main hobbies are sport, watching movies, games and going out.

Jarrad , Australia

Welcome! I use/d a K-Walker occasionally too. You sound simillar to me CP-wise. I use crutches for short distances and a wheelchair for everything else.

Sports wise, have you heard of boccia? I play it and it's really awesome, specifically designed for people with CP.

I'm in New Zealand, look foward to getting to know you. :wave:

Hi and welcome to the boards. Here you well find a community of support and sharing of information, from young perspectives and older-adult perspectives. I don't know what grade 7 is equivelant to the United States, but it makes me tink you are on the younger end the spectrum. It's nice to see more people coming here. :) I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! :)

I hadn't heard of it until you told me, so I looked it up and it and it looked really fun to play but I'm not sure if they have any tournaments in Perth. I might have to check it out next time I'm down there. Did you know in the 2004 Boccia National Championships there was lots of winners from New Zealand?


I went ten pin bowling once with two people who had Cerebal Palsy who were 16 and 18 and one also used crutches, and the other used a cane. We had trouble using the ball but they had this special ball with a handle that would snap back in after you used it. We beat all the AB people!


Have you heard of that band INXS? I going to my first rock concert when I get my Boxtox done in Perth!



Hope to talk to you soon.

Jarrad,

Actually we finish primary school at year 7 (12 yrs old) and start highschool at year 8 (13 yrs old) in Australia :)

Yeah, it is really fun. You really should check it out. I know this one guy who goes to the Aussie Nationals every year, last year he won a gold medal in his class.

I am planning to take it seriously, and I hope to get into the national squad within the next couple of years. I'm 14, how old are you?

One thing that really sucks about boccia though, is if you have milder CP, there's like all these classes of hand function, BC3 is for really bad CP and BC2 is if you can throw but don't have too much hand function. I haven't been officially classified yet, but I am supposedly a BC2.

When I do get classified, I'm hoping to god that I am a BC2 otherwise I won't get into an international class meaning I can't play internationally :(.

please help i am new and going out of my head my son was on a ventilater for the first 3 weeks of life as he had got meconum aspiration and was rushed to yorkhill for ecmo he is now 18 weeks old and doing well accept for the last 18 weeks we have been having problems getting him to drink a bottle he is fussy takes over 2 hours to get 7 oz of milk down him screams out loud when trying to feed him he goes all tight cant sit him up when hes like this he also wakes up with a loud scream from a sleep and cant get him to stop then goes pale white cant get throughto him he then he falls asleep again wont giggle play with his feet or hold a rattle or cant do mini push up yets he tries but struggles his doctor has asked us to film the scream thing when he does it again so he can see it its so scary as if the life has drained from him he is also recomending physio pherapy please someone tell me does it sound like my son has cerebal palsy hellllllllllllllp oh he does follow me around the room he does coo and does laugh just wont giggle and wont roll over

It's too early to tell if he may have cp. Most kids are diagnosed when they are totally sure it's cp and not some other condition since cp is so hard to diagnose. I was diagnosed at 18 months.

It is great to hear all you younger ones with cp using these boards. The boxing is a great idea for my son in the future. Can I ask did either of you do water therapy or swimming as part of your therapy regime?
Angel eye bright, don't go rushing into trying to diagnose. CP is really hard to diagnose at that age. There may be a million reasons why your son is not doing what you think he should be doing. The only thing I can suggest is that if you are worried then talk to your doctor about your concerns. Get the physio he has recommended. After what your on went through post birth he may just need a little while to catch up.

Karimsmum- I swam competitively for a number of years. It's really good for the muscles! :)

Angeleyes- as skigirl said, CP usually isn't diagnosed until around 2 years of age. Get him some physio... he could just be delayed due to a difficult birth

Yes I have heard it is one of the best therapeutic treatments...I have my son going to swimming lessons once a week learning to kick and paddle, float and jump in and reach out for the edge. We also get to the pool when we can for me to do one on one. He really likes it and I hope that that continues as it is one form of therapy that he truly enjoys doing.