Lexi is walking into a life with less falls and pain
By Louise Kinross
Christine LaChapelle and her daughter Lexi, 8, return home today after a three-month stay at Holland Bloorview. But a piece of them will remain in these walls.
It’s a small clay disc Christine made in our Inpatient Parent Talk, and it represents Lexi’s surgery, rehab and remarkable recovery. A figure on the disk appears to be walking out of it. It will be displayed in a wall socket in the stairwell close to our therapy gyms.
Lexi, who has cerebral palsy, had a selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) to reduce muscle spasticity which caused her to fall repeatedly, and gave her significant pain. SDR involves cutting nerve rootlets in the spinal cord that send abnormal signals to the muscles.
“It’s been life-changing,” Christine says. “Lexi has only fallen once since she’s been here, rather than two to three times a day; her pain is minimal now; and her range of motion is substantially better.”
Lexi’s goals are a bit different. When she gets home to Coldwater, Ont., she wants to ride a two-wheel scooter, play basketball, and throw sticks to her dogs Cooper and Rocky without falling.
Christine says the figure in the clay is Lexi walking. The disc itself is green, Lexi’s favourite colour. “Improving her walking is such a part of everything we do. It’s why we’re here, and we’re so lucky we could partake in this, because it’s been so positive for Lexi.”
Until December 2017, Ontario didn’t fund SDR here, and families had to travel to St. Louis for the procedure, which costs over $100,000. Lexi is part of a three-year program at SickKids and Holland Bloorview, funded by the Ontario government, to provide the surgery, inpatient rehab and six months of outpatient therapy to about a dozen children a year.
Christine made the disc of Lexi in Holland Bloorview’s art studio during a weekly group for parents, where they discuss a topic or do an activity. “I think the idea of getting parents together to speak about their own personal journeys can be really cathartic,” she says.
Christine says the care her daughter received at Holland Bloorview has been outstanding. “I can’t say enough about it. Every single person we’ve come in contact with has gone above and beyond. Lexi has really enjoyed it here—so much that she doesn’t want to go home. She’s made so many relationships.”
