World Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day

Today is the first ever World Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day!  I'm so happy that worldwide people are coming together to talk about CP because there are over 17 million people worldwide effected with CP and a further 350 million people closely connected to a child or adult with CP.  To put that number into perspective there are just under 315 million people in the USA so there are more people in the world connected to a child or adult with CP than there are people in the entire US!

Emma and our entire family are included in these figures.

Emma has CP and she works it well!  Even though it effects all her motor skills from sitting, standing, walking, talking, eating, it DOES NOT effect her smiling or laughing skills.  Boy, can this girl smile and laugh like no other!  Having a moderate to severe form of CP means that Emma is usually going through life with a partner by her side to help her with mostly all daily activities and this works well for her because she does not like to be left alone at all.

CP has brought so many amazing people into our lives, allowed me to love deeper than I ever imagined  and seeing Emma work to achieve milestones so many take for granted has inspired me to work harder and be a better person.  Today I ask people to look a bit beyond the disability and see how Emma and others like her are changing the world for the better!

The theme for this year is "Change my world in 1 minute."  So, I'll take my minute to say all offers to babysit both girls so we can get a few hours off for a date will be immediately accepted :-)