Joy at prospect brave Corey could walk this year
9:00am Thursday 17th January 2013 in News By Katie Bond
Corey and mum Kelly have had the best news they could hope for
IT LOOKS like 2013 will be a special year for cerebral palsy sufferer Corey Cummings and his family after they were told he will undergo a life-changing operation in May.
Corey, six, of Coate, currently cannot walk unaided, but an operation called a selective dorsal rhizotomy, which is not available on the NHS, will enable him to walk independently and play like other children his age.
Since April last year, Corey’s family and friends and other kind-hearted local people have come together to raise the £24,000 needed to pay for the operation, while waiting to hear whether Corey was a suitable patient.
At the end of last year the family were given the go-ahead.
Last week they were told the operation will be carried out in May.
It is a complex neurosurgical technique used to treat spasticity in the lower limbs.
Mum Kelly said: “We were expecting it to be July, but we’ve now been told it will be in May.
“We are pleased because we don’t want to wait any longer really, as Corey is getting older and there will be more realisation of what the operation actually involves, which would freak him out completely. He is already worried that they won’t put him to sleep.”
Despite being unable to walk unaided, Corey loves playing football and currently plays in goal. He is looking forward to improving his ball skills as well as taking part in the usual everyday activities that most other six-year-olds enjoy.
Kelly said: “I think he is most looking forward to the independence more than anything.
“Just to be able to do things for himself, he is getting to that age when he just wants to be able to do things that all other children do.
“He keeps saying things like, ‘well at least you won’t have to do that for me any more’.”
Corey is expected to be at Frenchay Hospital for three weeks after the operation and will have physiotherapy for a number of months following the procedure.
“I have spoken to several other people who have been through the operation but nobody who is beyond two years’ recovery yet.
“It is difficult to say how much physiotherapy he will need; it depends on how hard his body works how his body reacts to the physiotherapy,” said Kelly.
“The operation does the job but it is the physiotherapy that is really important.
“It has all happened so quickly it has been amazing. I just can’t believe it.
“If last year is anything to go by, the wait until May will fly by.”
