An Illinois man with cerebral palsy is walking from Rockford to Evanston to help out a nonprofit organization in his local area. According to reporting from WLS, the man is taking the walk to raise awareness about cerebral palsy and the Over the Rainbow Association.
For anyone, taking a 70-mile walk is an ambitious proposition. For somebody with Cerebral Palsy, such as CJ Campbell, the man taking the walk, it’s obviously even more ambitious. Many people with cerebral palsy suffer significant difficulties with mobility. Campbell uses crutches to assist him while walking.
Humor Is Important
In the article, Campbell relates that the event has been causing some difficulty for drivers. He’s reported that people have thrown a few unkind words his way and have yelled at him for holding up their morning commutes. In the article, he said he’s okay with the insults because, when the drivers see what was holding them up, “they’re going to feel like total jerks.”
Cerebral Palsy and Non-profit Assistance
There are many organizations, some national, some local, that help people with different types of disabilities. Cerebral palsy encompasses a wide variety of disabilities among the people who suffer with it. Some people, like Campbell, can undertake rather ambitious activities, such as walking 70 miles. Some people with cerebral palsy are athletes. Many people with cerebral palsy, however, have significant problems with mobility, and unfortunately, some have almost no control over the muscles at all.
The many nonprofit organizations that have sprung up to help people with cerebral palsy oftentimes offer some sort of assistance with mobility issues, finding employment that can accommodate somebody who has a handicap and other vital needs.
Expensive Treatments
Some of the most effective treatments that help people with cerebral palsy enjoy greater mobility are also very expensive. For some parents, these types of treatment are accessible and they can get great improvement for the child in terms of how easy of a time they have getting around. In other cases, however, these types of treatments may simply be out of reach.
Some of the families who have a child with cerebral palsy end up having a birth injury attorney help them sue the healthcare provider, physician or other entity that was responsible for medical negligence, if that is how the child came to have cerebral palsy. Medical negligence is sometimes a factor in both cases where cerebral palsy developed before birth and after.