Journey From Paralysis

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Journey From Paralysis

Sept. 27, 2002



Jessica Hill (Photo: CBS/The Early Show)



"She keeps exceeding every goal that I set for her in my mind ... She knows that doing her bike and doing her treadmill will help her walk."
Leann Hill


(Photo: CBS/The Early Show)



(CBS) The idea of complete recovery after suffering a catastrophic spinal cord injury may seem far-fetched, but a new approach in treating paralyzed patients is beginning to pay dividends.

And, as The Early Show national correspondent Jon Frankel discovers, a little girl in Illinois is leading the way.

Like most 4 year olds, Jessica Hill gets her hands into everything. She loves blocks and is building a future nobody thought possible.

"They told me she would never walk, she'd never run, she'd never crawl," said Jessica's mother, Leann. "You know, that was what our life was going to entail was a child who was paralyzed from the waist down and we would have to deal with it."

Jessica was born nine weeks premature, weighing barely three pounds. She had meningitis and an infection that led to water on the brain. One lung collapsed and the other had a hole.

"She was born with an infection that caused a problem in her brain that basically caused a stroke in her spinal cord ... so she was paralyzed about nipple line down," said Dr. John McDonald, a neurologist at Washington University Hospital.

McDonald has lots of experience treating adults with spinal cord injuries, including actor Christopher Reeve. Jessica became his first pediatric patient two years ago.

"He said, 'Basically what I'm going to tell you is ... if you do the things you're supposed to do, the treadmill, the bike, repetitive motion over and over and over ... I don't see why she couldn't make a full recovery,'" said Leann.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in652500.shtml