Special Focus

"We are very, very blessed to have Kayla in this program. And personally, it’s wonderful for me too. I know she’s in good hands."

Kayla is an amazing teenager with Down syndrome and autism who lives with her mother and older sister. United Cerebral Palsy has supported Kayla since 1995, first with our child care inclusion services and then through the UCP Youth Resources Teen Outreach program. In December 2007, Kayla had a very significant stroke. The initial prognosis was not good. Her doctors were not sure if she would survive and were concerned about permanent brain damage if she survived. Her love for life helped her pull through and after a few short weeks she was released from the hospital.

Just three months after her stroke she returned to our Teen Outreach program. Her transition back into the program was not easy, as fatigue was a major problem. When she first returned, her communication was very limited using single words only. Since then she has made remarkable progress. Her social skills have improved dramatically and by mid-July she was beginning to speak in complete sentences.

Kayla’s mom sums up how the United Cerebral Palsy Youth Resources program has benefited their lives by saying, “Kayla has been having a great summer. She hops right in the car in the morning ready to go. We are very, very blessed to have Kayla in this program. And personally, it’s wonderful for me too. I know she’s in good hands. When I drop her off in the morning, the last thing I see is a happy Kayla. And I take that memory with me. When I’m at work, I often think about what she might be doing at the moment, and it makes me smile.”

Kayla's mom believes that Kayla’s success is directly related to the ongoing relationship and support from UCP and specifically to the continuity of our support staff from the school year through the summer.

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