Cerebral palsy: 'To take care of others, you must start with yourself'

Cerebral palsy does not only affect one person, it alters the lives of the family as well.

It took a while to adjust to the implications of Cathy Naidoo's* cerebral palsy, but the family soon slipped into the routines of everyday life. (Madelene Cronj, M&G)

We try to live as normal of a life as possible, says Charlene Naidoo*, sitting on the edge of the black leather couch in the living room of her Mayfair home in Johannesburg. But when we go to the shops people stare. Children will come and stand by her wheelchair and just stare at her.

Charlenes smile is sad. Sometimes I look at other mothers and daughters that age walking in the mall and shopping, and I think that could have been us.

The hands of her 16-year-old daughter Cathy* are turned sideways, her knees inward and her limbs are rigid. Cathy has cerebral palsy, a physical disability that affects movement, posture and co-ordination, according to the United Cerebral Palsy Association of South Africa. It is caused by damage to the part of the brain that controls motor function.

It took Charlene* and her husband Roy* years to come to terms with their daughters diagnosis.(Photos:Madelene Cronj, M&G)

The association says that the damage to or delayed development of the brain can occur as a result of a problem in the early stages of pregnancy, a difficult or premature birth, but in some cases the cause of cerebral palsy is unknown.

Charlene says her daughter sustained brain damage at birth when she [Charlene] had an allergic reaction to medication the doctors used to induce labour.

I had an asthmatic attack that put me into a coma. They [doctors] only took her out [by caesarean section] a couple of hours later, once I had been stabilised. During that time the oxygen supply to the placenta had shut down and she didnt get any oxygen, says Charlene.

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Cerebral palsy: 'To take care of others, you must start with yourself'