Videos: Real Lives Changed After SDR in St. Louis
Mitchell traveled from Great Britain to have SDR with Dr. Park in 2010, at 10 years old
Isabelle traveled from Ireland to have SDR with Dr. Park in 2016,
at 49 years old
The St. Louis team traveled back to New Zealand in February 2018 to catch up with their patients following SDR!
Dr. Park recently performed his 4,000th SDR surgery in Nov. 2018, for 7 yr old Ivy from Australia!
April traveled from Ireland to have SDR with Dr. Park at age 14.
Several years on, these are her thoughts on SDR:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXEYyTqFmAv/?taken-by=sdr_journeys
I was a little girl with with walking aids, orthotics, countless medical appointments & something called spastic diplegia.
I got around in my own way; crawling, wobbling, wheeling. Whatever. My mobility was manageable, but spasticity meant that it wasn’t to last. As I entered my pre-teens, things got trickier. I was growing up, my muscles were getting tighter. I was up on tip-toe worse than ever, with increasingly bent knees. Most teenagers have nagging parents, I had nagging joint pain. I was 14, but I felt like 84.
Despite mastering tripods as a kid, more and more, I regressed to using the walker at school and the wheelchair out & about. Before long my legs weren’t good for much else except falling down, tiring out, or keeping me up at night with painful spasms. The doctors were disappointed in me & I was disappointed in them.
I needed surgery, the kind that I wasn’t going to get at home: SDR + PERCS.
From Dublin to St. Louis and back again, from muscles crippled by tightness to lovely loose legs. I’d had spasticity my whole life. I didn’t know it was dragging me down until suddenly, it wasn’t anymore. After the surgery, I was weak as a kitten, with legs like jelly. I’d never walked properly in my whole life, my confidence was nil & my new body took some adjustment. My limbs are older, stubborn, set in their ways, but I’m strong enough to handle them (most of the time!)
Returning home, combining school work with rehabilitation wasn’t easy, but it was truly worth it. Thanks to SDR, I have the opportunity to lead the active, independent, pain-free life I’ve always wanted. I quickly swapped my plethora of devices for just single point canes & haven’t looked back since. These days I’m striding around the garden, unassisted. I can find my balance. I can pick myself up when I fall. I can walk tall, with flat feet and straight knees. I’m planning cross-country day trips with my friends, showing my Dad how it’s done on the dance floor and negotiating a university campus nearly every day. Life if good, because spasticity is gone."
