Amanda is 17 years old. She was born with what was described to me as immature muscles. She has always been a bright, fun loving lil' Princess. When she was very little my mom nicknamed her "Amanda Janey Cake's miss baby pitch fit". Of course the Amanda Jane stuck.
    She was milk  intolerant so needless to say there were many sleepless   nights. We really started to notice that something wasn't quite right around 6 months. We had finally convinced her  Pediatrician, there may be a concern. He scheduled  an appointment at Loma Linda, they had to cancel as  we were getting ready to relocate to a different  state.   When we
arrived in Grand Junction,Colorado, we scheduled another appointment with a new Pediatrician, Dr. John Pelner. He took one look at her and looked  at me and said " I think she has Cerebral Palsy". Wow!  To this day I have the utmost respect for him, he wasn't afraid, and he had the consideration to be honest with  me. I want to thank him where ever he is
now, for being   an inspiration in Amanda's and My life.
    We proceeded to our next steps, all those tests. The   hardest on for me was the chromosome testing. I couldn't  stand watching them stick that LONGGGGGG  needle in her. To make the beginning history short. The  results showed that Amanda had Schizencephaly,  Microcephaly, moderately severe spastic quadriplegia, Cerebral Palsy, They also called her a "floppy baby and that she had one side that actually was worse  than the other.
    My only thoughts then and now were making her life the best that it could be and doing  all I could to make that happen. I loved her
 before  her disability and today I love her even more despite  her disability. Why? Because she isn't her disability. Amanda is witty, funny, adventurous, loving, tender, intelligent, beautiful, very social, and very, very sweet spirited child. She expresses her mind in what ever way she can and she doesn't stop until you get it.  One of the things that they told us was that the intelligence part of her brain was intact and functioning,   they of course wouldn't give a prognosis of how much she  would know or if mental retardation was a factor. I didn't  care, I still don't. I as a fellow human I being do not feel that is my right to decide. Especially when they say a  special needs child can't, that child usually will do exactly what they have said they couldn't do. I believe that our children grow as much as they do because of our determination for them.
    We have had our ups and downs, but this is a  statement that many
people have misunderstood.  Those ups and downs were never her. When you look into those eyes and see that someone whom is  full of life and total understanding , it is frustrating when someone else doesn't take the time to notice it too.
    Today Amanda attends High School here in  Olympia. She has many friends that she likes going to the mall with. She love being a young lady right  down to the perfume, fashions, nail polish and BOYS. Her favorite color is purple. Her hobbies  are computers, going for walks, collecting trolls, angels and Teddy Bears. Her favorite scent is Tea  Rose. She loves music. All kinds, she doesn't care. Especially Grammies classical. She loves making people laugh and with her contagious laughter  it doesn't take long to have a whole room laughing.
    She loves children, the baby's really make her  happy. She has watched her 4 siblings grow up  and I have always thought of them as the babies   she may never have. I think that they too, have a  very special relationship
with her. They get really upset when someone babies Amanda. They comment  " She doesn't like being babied."
    No matter where she goes she brightens someone's  life. I don't think that they ever get her out of their  mind, she has such a powerful effect on every   one especially on this mom. She refuses to let me be discouraged, When I am sad she starts that laughing until I am laughing right beside her. If  that isn't intelligence and wisdom then I don't  know what it is except, love.

Amanda's Story was written by her mother Dena.
 
 

*** Note*** Amanda's Mother is a dear friend of mine. I met her online about two years ago
  while searching the web for info on CP. She was busy at the time creating her own CP site.
                    The Cerebral Palsy Network  stop by and check it out.