Dallas, TX (PRWEB) June 24, 2014 The birth injury patient advocates at CerebralPalsyHelp.org are alerting parents of children with cerebral palsy of new research information on the site. Duke University was recently awarded a research grant to explore the use of umbilical cord cells to treat brain damage causing cerebral palsy and other conditions*. The CP Help Center is a national advocacy center providing the latest on cerebral palsy treatment, clinical trials, resources and litigation news. Parents can learn more about their childs condition and how it may have been caused, get information on available assistance, and decide if they should seek legal advice. Cerebral palsy affects muscle movement, coordination and posture. It is the leading cause of functional and developmental disability in children in the United States**, occurring in approximately 3.3 out of every 1,000 births, and affecting approximately 500,000 children**. While CP affects muscle function, it is actually a neurological disorder caused by brain damage to the parts that control muscle function***. This usually occurs before, during or after birth***. Cerebral palsy may be caused by factors occurring to the fetus during pregnancy, or by trauma or asphyxiation during labor***. There is no cure at this time, however, … Continue reading →

Mitsu Yasukawa/ Staff Photographer Photos: William Paterson University 2013 graduation She was the first student to take a seat at William Paterson Universitys graduation Wednesday and she traveled one of the hardest paths to get there. Born with cerebral palsy in the Dominican Republic, Juana M. Ortiz was never able to go to school until she came to New Jersey at 15. Because she walks slowly, she was seated alone in the front row before her classmates paraded in. She can type with only one hand and, despite her strenuous efforts to enunciate, can be hard to understand. But her enormous drive was on joyful display as she stepped carefully, with assistance, across the stage at the Izod Center in East Rutherford to get her diploma at age 40. I thought I would never be able to make it this far, she said before a ceremony granting bachelors degrees to 2,446 students and masters degrees to 326. I got support from my family and professors. Im thankful to be in America. Here you can complete any dream as long as you try hard. Her father Marino, a retired taxi driver, could not hold back tears as he described his pride. … Continue reading →

Carmine Galasso/Staff Photographer Howard and Barbara Zimmermans son David has lived in a full-service facility for people with Down syndrome in New York State for 54 years. In the 54 years since a doctor told his parents he was, in now-outdated and rejected terminology, a mongoloid idiot with no hope for a normal life, David Zimmerman has lived in a place he and his family have come to consider his home. Until recently, they expected him to finish his years there. Zimmerman, who has Down syndrome, had a roommate he considered his best friend for decades. A nurse he sometimes called Mom. A rabbi who encouraged him to celebrate a belated bar mitzvah. David Zimmerman in 2002, with his mother in his room at Pathfinder Village in upstate New York. Now, as the 57-year-old sinks into a dementia that his family expects to evolve into Alzheimers disease, the state has told him that he has to move. Zimmerman is one of 700 adults with developmental disabilities the state wants to transfer from out-of-state residential communities where it has paid tuition for decades back to New Jersey under a plan officials say will save money and make it easier to monitor … Continue reading →