CSUN student rides on Rose Parade float after overcoming cerebral palsy

Published on January 27, 2014 By Araceli Castillo

Precious Malumfashi, 26, shows the pin she received for participating on the Festival of Roses Parade on Jan. 1. Photo credit by Trevor Stamp.

CSUN communications student Precious Malumfashi, 26, was not only born premature at 24 weeks, but was diagnosed with cerebral palsy disorder soon thereafter. Malumfashi was kept in an incubator and stayed hospitalized for three months at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Woodland Hills.

It was unknown what condition she had until she was 2 years old. Cerebral palsy: a disorder that affects the nervous system and is not genetic. Sometimes seen in premature babies it is caused by the lack of oxygen reaching the brain. The disorder has affected Malumfashis ability to walk from a very young age.

Malumfashi has inspired and helped others by sharing her story.

I dont have a disability I have a handi-capability, Malumfashi said. I can do anything anybody else can do. I just do it differently.

Malumfashis mother, Lori Malumfashi, was given little hope on the condition of her daughter. Doctors could not predict how Malumfashi would be the next day and instead fought hour by hour to keep her alive.

Three months after being released from the hospital, doctors were unsure of what disorder she had. Malumfashi could not be diagnosed with anything since she was still developing. Doctors told Malumfashis mother that her brain would not develop more than a 5-year-old.

Despite what doctors said, her family never gave up on helping her build a stronger nervous system. Her mother refused to allow her daughter to become part of that statistic.

Growing up, Malumfashi felt like the rest of the kids. She would play with her cousins and despite feeling like sometimes there was something different about herself, her family always treated her like any other normal child. Malumfashi remembers whenever she would fall, her grandmother would worry and run to her rescue, but it would be her mother that said she could get up on her own.

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CSUN student rides on Rose Parade float after overcoming cerebral palsy