Mason Anderson, 4, who has cerebral palsy, undergoing expensive but revolutionary surgery

Mason Anderson is a happy, funny little guy with a smile that can melt your heart.

The good-natured tots outgoing personality masks a tortuous four years that began Jan. 24, 2011 the day he was born. One of three triplets, Mason weighed less than three pounds and, like his sisters, Jaida and Whitney, he required ventilation to breathe and feeding tubes for nutrition.

Three days into life, Mason suffered a brain hemorrhage that left the right side of his brain severely damaged. He developed hydrocephalus and required brain surgery twice. It would get worse before it would get better. When he was one, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP).

Every day, in my mind, over and over again, I replay what the doctor said after his brain surgery: He told me he would never walk, he would never talk hed never be able to smile, recalled a tearful Carlene Anderson. I didnt believe it.

She and her husband, Kevin, and her father have refused to accept that diagnosis. They have been steadfast in their belief Mason would defy the odds. And their dedication and perseverance have paid off.

Today, Mason talks, smiles, can walk with a walker, attends preschool with his sisters and, like the rest of his family, hopes to walk on his own some day. Carlene has more than hope: I know he will walk.

Her faith is twofold; she has seen her hard-working son push himself in the conductive education therapy that has changed his life and she discovered an American doctor whose revolutionary surgery allows patients like Mason to walk.

Dr. T. S. Park and his team have performed the surgery selective dorsal rhizotomy at Childrens Hospital in St. Louis on 3,000 carefully selected kids like Mason. He has a 100% success rate; each patient has been able to walk after the surgery.

Basically, when you have CP, your muscles are always tight, explained Anderson. Masons toes, for example, are always pointed straight down. In this surgery, the doctor tests the spasticity of the muscles in the spinal cord and removes the spastic muscles.

While the surgery is comprehensive and complicated Mason will be at the hospital in St. Louis for almost a month the ensuing regimen of therapy and rehabilitation is just as critical.

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Mason Anderson, 4, who has cerebral palsy, undergoing expensive but revolutionary surgery