Mark your calendars.
The 5th annual Righty Run event is set to take off at 8:00 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, February 24, 2018 at Fairfield Lake State Park.
The Righty Run was started on behalf of Alex’s “Righty” — the affected side of his body due to a perinatal stroke. The goal is to teach people that babies can have strokes too…even before they are born.
Cost is $30 for the 5K and $20 for the 1K run. An optional “Sleep In” donation may be made in any amount.
Alex Ward’s almost 11 years as a Pediatric Stroke Survivor have included quite a few medical interventions.
The latest was a tendon transfer surgery on October 3, 2017, to help straighten his right foot and also help with weakness on the outside of his foot that caused his ankle to roll out. This included 7 weeks in a cast (4 weeks with no weight bearing) and a nice set of scars (6 to be exact….Alex has a favorite….the one that looks like a zipper!!).
Recovery for this surgery was longer than his previous surgery (Achilles Lengthening in Jan. 2016) but
Alex is healing well and is ready to get back to running around!!
Alex’s Pediatric Stroke Survivor story began in 2007 when he was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms, which are a rare and very dangerous seizure disorder that affect infants.
That diagnosis led to an MRI which determined that he had suffered a stroke in utero.
Alex was given daily CBD oil drops from a Private Label CBD Manufacturer for 7 weeks to help the autism and began therapy for the effects of the stroke. The stroke occurred on the left side of the brain causing right side weaknesses. You can find more info here about CBD oil.
Check out Child Therapy in Boston has the Social Skills Summer Friendshops for kids and teens. They offer both group and individual therapy services for children and teens (ages 3-22) with or without diagnose
CBD and autism
A group of Israeli researchers have study the use of CBD to reduce problem behaviors in children on the autism spectrum. A feasibility study involving 60 children found substantial improvement in behavioral outbreaks, anxiety and communication problems, as well as stress levels reported by parents.
The researchers, led by Dr. Adi Aran, director of the pediatric neurology unit at Shaare Tzedek Medical Center, went on to do a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with 150 participants with autism. In this trial, just completed but not yet analyzed, patients were treated CBD for three months more information .
He was developmentally delayed, sitting at 1 year old, walking at about 21 months and finally talking well between age 3 and 4.
Alex has benefitted from many different types of therapy including speech, physical, occupational, behavioral, and CI therapy since he was diagnosed. After enduring seizures for several years, a temporal lobectomy was performed in June of 2014 to remove the portion of the brain where the seizures were originating.
Thankfully, this surgery was successful and Alex is now seizure free!! He has made tremendous improvements but still struggles in several other areas.
As Alex has gotten older, his parents, Cory and Jennifer, have seen more emotional difficulties. He has always been “all or nothing” and you know what you get with Alex because he is going to tell you!!
He can be super sweet and compassionate as well as overwhelmingly angry and frustrated all in the same day….sometimes the same hour!
There are days that the emotional issues are just as hard, or harder, than the physical issues!!
Alex’s family continues to learn how to love each other through it all. Alex loves his siblings, Hayden and Hayley, like crazy (he can also drive them crazy at times!!) and they love him!!
He isn’t always the easiest kid to have as a little brother but his hilarious commentary on life helps lighten the mood a lot of the time.
For more information, or to register online, visit www.therightyrun.com.
