Who I am!

Hi, my name is Melia Benjamin and I have Cerebral Palsy!

I have had Cerebral Palsy my whole life and am lucky to have the abilities given to me as well as taught to me throughout my younger developmental years.

Cerebral Palsy is an umbrella term used to describe developmental delays caused by a brain injury before, at, or soon after birth. The main reason for the injury is asphyxiation or lack of oxygen to the brain. As for me the belief is that the injury came when my mom took a hard fall while at home on a kitchen floor my dad was working on at the time and her water broke and was placed in the hospital on bed-rest at about the 5th month of pregnancy until I was born about two months later due to the fact that my heartbeat was not detected by a regular stethoscope because in the very early 1970s there was no such thing as sonograms or the like Fetal Doppler heartbeat monitors there are today. Thus on July 4th I was born after the nurses and doctors could not find a heartbeat and was under the impression I already had not survived.  They ordered a C-Section and to their amazement I was alive and again this was when mothers were knocked out and the fathers were not allowed in the operating room so my parents never saw me and were not even allowed to see me until two or three days later and were told to prepare for a funeral not a little 4 pound baby girl. I survived and about a month or so after my birth I was allowed to go home with my mom, dad, and 5-year-old big sister. When I was sent home my parents were told that they knew she has something effecting the brain but the doctors in Springfield, MO had no idea what was wrong.

Thus my parents brought me home and my mom did some research and found a pediatric neurologist at UCLA that could probably diagnose my disability. The good news is we already had family in California and my parents were looking to get back to the west coast. My dad had lost his job so they headed back to California to family and doctors that could possibly identify my disability. Once in California my mom immediately called the doctor she read about and was told there were no immediate appointments available so instead of waiting she went to the doctor's office and sat in the waiting room with me the whole day until the doctor finally came into the waiting room and identified me with having Cerebral Palsy.

Thus my journey began knowing now that I had Cerebral Palsy and there was no cure but with the help of pediatric neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, as well as therapists (speech, physical, and occupational) I would be able to have a productive life. In this blog I hope to give you a glimpse of my life now and while I was growing up. There are many books about raising a child with cerebral Palsy but very few if any about being an adult with cerebral palsy and the obstacles we must overcome now and the lessons I learned growing up.