My name is Helen Convery, I’m 35 years old and I have a disability called Athetoid Cerebral Palsy (dyskinetic), which causes unwanted movements in all my limbs.
This doesn’t stop me from doing the things I love such as painting and drawing. I only got back into doing my paintings and drawings again last September when my husband bought me this program called Serif Drawplus x2. I did a lot of drawing when I was a child, but I always had someone near by to clean up the mess, so when I found this program I could use without making any mess I was over the moon because I found the thing that I’d been looking for for years. This is something that I am really passionate about and enjoy doing. I have also found some sort of self belief and worth as for years I often wondered what was the point to my life apart from being with my wonderful husband Aidan.
I tried writing a book in the past, but for some reason I never managed to finish it as I thought no-one be interested in my life. But when I’m drawing I know I’m expressing myself to others without even having to say a single word and that where I get my enthusiasm from. To do my drawings I use the number pad on the keyboard as my mouse, paint brush, pencil, or whatever else I’m drawing with at the time.
As for the parachute jump its always something I’ve wanted to do; I think with being stuck in a wheelchair twenty-four hours seven day a week its just the idea of flying through the air from 13,00ft that gives me a sense of excitement and danger. I know people think I’m mad but if your going to do something crazy you may as well go the whole hog and do something totally outrageous and stupid! So, why have I chosen to do the jump to raise money for the Paralympics?
Firstly, when I was younger I use to take part in CP Sport, and if I had been given the encouragement and support from others maybe it could have been me heading towards the 2012 games as I won plenty of gold’s in my time.Secondly, I watched the paraylmpic games last year on the television and was glued to it as the alethes put their heart and soul into everything they did and you felt the pain and determination that they were going through; for the first time in 34yrs it made me feel proud to be British and disabled. So that’s why I have decided to do a parachute jump for them; it’s my way of saying I can do whatever I want and help others at the same time!
You can sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/helenconvery or visit my website at http://www.crazyhelen.com/ to learn more about the jump and other ways you can help.
Showing posts with label Athetoid Cerebral Palsy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Athetoid Cerebral Palsy. Show all posts
27 March 2009
18 July 2008
Paralympian Stephen Miller publishes book
STILL only 28, disabled athlete Stephen Miller has crammed a lifetime into the last three decades.
Born with cerebral palsy, he has overcome prejudices, physical limitations and the death of a close friend to become a record-breaking gold medallist and an inspiration for hundreds of disabled athletes.
“My friends say I’m way too young to have an autobiography yet,” laughs Stephen, as he sits on the sofa at the home he shares with his parents Ros and John.
“It’s been really hard work and it’s taken me two years but I’m glad I did it.”
The front room in the semi-detached house in Cramlington is a showcase of Stephen’s triumphant sports career.
There are two glass cabinets crammed with medals, including his three gold Paralympic gongs, the walls are adorned with signed photographs of him meeting sporting stars and a trophy he received for North East Sports Personality of the Year sits proudly on the windowsill.
Above Stephen’s head hangs a striking image of the athlete, overcome with emotion and wiping away a tear, after winning a gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Athens.
These are just a handful of the accolades he has received over the years.
“This is another one of his world records,” says his mum as she holds aloft a silver plate inscribed with his name.
When asked how many he has, she smiles, “We’ve lost count.”
His achievements are outstanding.
He has won gold medals for throwing the club at the Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Paralympic games and is the current world, Paralympic, European and National record holder for the sport.
A quick tally of his honours show he has 15 international medals for club and six for discus while nationally he has notched up 19 gold medals and one silver for both club and discus.
“I have achieved so much it is hard to pick out one as my greatest achievement,” says Stephen, who works as a web developer for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead.
“Each one in itself is a massive achievement for me. Personally, getting working and getting a job is one of the biggest achievements to me.”
Stephen was born on May 27 1980 at Princess Mary maternity hospital in Newcastle.
It was a difficult birth. He was born in the breech position and starved of oxygen during the delivery.
His parents were devastated when he was diagnosed with athetoid cerebral palsy, a form that results in involuntary movement, but instead of suing for compensation they decided to concentrate their efforts on giving their son the best life possible.
They treated Stephen no differently from his younger brother Jonathan, who came along six years later.
He says: “My parents brought me up as a normal child.
“They never mollycoddled me and I was always going out and playing in the street with the other kids.
“With my disability I have learned to get around things.”
There have been many times over the years that Stephen has wondered what his life would have been like if he didn’t have cerebral palsy.
But he tries not to dwell on it and instead prefers to exude a positive outlook .
“It is something that does go through my mind especially in your teenage years,” he says. “It becomes more obvious you are not the same as your friends.”
One of the things the athlete is most passionate about is promoting disability sport in the region and fighting prejudices that many disabled people face.
He trained as a coach so he could help young people achieve their goals, just like he did. “One of the hardest things in my life has been dealing with other people’s perceptions,” says the ardent United supporter.
“It’s getting better though and disability is a lot more accepted in society.”
One of Stephen’s role models since he started doing sport at the age of 11 was a man called Norman Bates, himself a medal-winning Paralympian, who inspired the young boy to excel in sport.
Sadly, the man he admired died in late 2002 and his death hit Stephen hard.
“He was there for me from the start. He was an ex-Paralympic athlete and someone I looked up to.”
Stephen has dedicated his autobiography to Norman, as well as his family, who have been a tremendous support to him throughout his career.
Kevin Keegan, who the Paralympian first met when he was three, has written a glowing foreword to the book.
Photographs included among the pages is a who’s who of the sporting world.
As well as the United manager Stephen has met Alan Shearer, John Burridge, Bobby Robson, Kelly Holmes, Boris Becker and Sebastian Coe, to name a few.
So, not even into his 30s and with so much behind him, what else does he want to do? “I would like to be an ambassador for disability sport,” he says.
:: Paralympian: My Autobiography by Stephen Miller, is published by Tonto Books on July 28, priced £9.99, and available from all good bookshops including Amazon, Borders, Waterstones, Fenwick and The Back Page.
The book will be officially launched on Thursday July 24 at Club 206, St James’s Park, at 7.30pm. Readers are invited to attend the free event.
See tomorrow’s Chronicle for extracts from the book.
Born with cerebral palsy, he has overcome prejudices, physical limitations and the death of a close friend to become a record-breaking gold medallist and an inspiration for hundreds of disabled athletes.
“My friends say I’m way too young to have an autobiography yet,” laughs Stephen, as he sits on the sofa at the home he shares with his parents Ros and John.
“It’s been really hard work and it’s taken me two years but I’m glad I did it.”
The front room in the semi-detached house in Cramlington is a showcase of Stephen’s triumphant sports career.
There are two glass cabinets crammed with medals, including his three gold Paralympic gongs, the walls are adorned with signed photographs of him meeting sporting stars and a trophy he received for North East Sports Personality of the Year sits proudly on the windowsill.
Above Stephen’s head hangs a striking image of the athlete, overcome with emotion and wiping away a tear, after winning a gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Athens.
These are just a handful of the accolades he has received over the years.
“This is another one of his world records,” says his mum as she holds aloft a silver plate inscribed with his name.
When asked how many he has, she smiles, “We’ve lost count.”
His achievements are outstanding.
He has won gold medals for throwing the club at the Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Paralympic games and is the current world, Paralympic, European and National record holder for the sport.
A quick tally of his honours show he has 15 international medals for club and six for discus while nationally he has notched up 19 gold medals and one silver for both club and discus.
“I have achieved so much it is hard to pick out one as my greatest achievement,” says Stephen, who works as a web developer for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead.
“Each one in itself is a massive achievement for me. Personally, getting working and getting a job is one of the biggest achievements to me.”
Stephen was born on May 27 1980 at Princess Mary maternity hospital in Newcastle.
It was a difficult birth. He was born in the breech position and starved of oxygen during the delivery.
His parents were devastated when he was diagnosed with athetoid cerebral palsy, a form that results in involuntary movement, but instead of suing for compensation they decided to concentrate their efforts on giving their son the best life possible.
They treated Stephen no differently from his younger brother Jonathan, who came along six years later.
He says: “My parents brought me up as a normal child.
“They never mollycoddled me and I was always going out and playing in the street with the other kids.
“With my disability I have learned to get around things.”
There have been many times over the years that Stephen has wondered what his life would have been like if he didn’t have cerebral palsy.
But he tries not to dwell on it and instead prefers to exude a positive outlook .
“It is something that does go through my mind especially in your teenage years,” he says. “It becomes more obvious you are not the same as your friends.”
One of the things the athlete is most passionate about is promoting disability sport in the region and fighting prejudices that many disabled people face.
He trained as a coach so he could help young people achieve their goals, just like he did. “One of the hardest things in my life has been dealing with other people’s perceptions,” says the ardent United supporter.
“It’s getting better though and disability is a lot more accepted in society.”
One of Stephen’s role models since he started doing sport at the age of 11 was a man called Norman Bates, himself a medal-winning Paralympian, who inspired the young boy to excel in sport.
Sadly, the man he admired died in late 2002 and his death hit Stephen hard.
“He was there for me from the start. He was an ex-Paralympic athlete and someone I looked up to.”
Stephen has dedicated his autobiography to Norman, as well as his family, who have been a tremendous support to him throughout his career.
Kevin Keegan, who the Paralympian first met when he was three, has written a glowing foreword to the book.
Photographs included among the pages is a who’s who of the sporting world.
As well as the United manager Stephen has met Alan Shearer, John Burridge, Bobby Robson, Kelly Holmes, Boris Becker and Sebastian Coe, to name a few.
So, not even into his 30s and with so much behind him, what else does he want to do? “I would like to be an ambassador for disability sport,” he says.
:: Paralympian: My Autobiography by Stephen Miller, is published by Tonto Books on July 28, priced £9.99, and available from all good bookshops including Amazon, Borders, Waterstones, Fenwick and The Back Page.
The book will be officially launched on Thursday July 24 at Club 206, St James’s Park, at 7.30pm. Readers are invited to attend the free event.
See tomorrow’s Chronicle for extracts from the book.
18 February 2002
Cerebral Palsy
There are different types of Cerebral Palsy and they are:
Spastic Diplegia This type of cp primarily affects the legs.Hemiplegia This is a form of cerebral palsy that affects one arm and leg on the same side of the body
Double Hemiplegia This is used to describe people who have a weakness in all four limbs, with more involvement on one side of the body than the other.Quadriplegiathis is a form of cp that affects all limbs.
Athetoid This type of CP is characterised by tremors, unsteadiness, lack of coordination, and constant movement. People with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy often have speech difficulties as well.Ataxicthis type of CP is the least common form of cerebral palsy. Ataxia means having a lack of balance. People with ataxic CP have a disturbed sense of balance and depth perception. They usually have low muscle tone, a staggering walk and unsteady hands.I have Spastic Diplegia, which means I have tight muscles and this can make it difficult at times to move about. I take muscle relaxants daily to help reduce the high tone allowing me to move a little easier. I walk with the help of a frame and I use a wheelchair.
Spastic diplegia refers to a type of cerebral palsy that is a neuromuscular condition of hypertonia and spasticity in the muscles of the lower extremities, usually those of the legs, hips and pelvis. It results from brain damage at birth that prevents proper development of the pyramidal tract, meaning that certain nerve receptors in the spine are in turn unable to properly absorb the gamma amino butyric acid which would otherwise properly regulate tone in the affected areas.
Without GABA, affected nerves perpetually fire the message for their corresponding muscles to contract and tighten up. Doctor William John Little's first recorded encounter with cerebral palsy is reported to have been among paediatric patients who displayed signs of spastic diplegia. Above the hips, persons with spastic diplegia typically retain normal or near-normal muscle tone and range of motion, though some lesser spasticity may also affect the upper body, such as the trunk and arms, depending on the severity of the condition in the individual; additionally, because the leg tightness often leads to instability in ambulation, some extra muscle tension usually develops in the upper body, shoulders, and arms regardless of the fact that the upper body is not directly affected by the condition. Spasticity in the legs is rarely so great as to totally prevent ambulation; i.e., most people with spastic diplegia can walk. However, spastic diplegia does result in the signature "scissor gait" that some able-bodied people might tend to confuse with the effects of drunkenness.Spastic diplegia typically results from damage to the motor cortex or corticospinal tract sustained before, during, or shortly after birth. This damage is usually caused by asphyxia, hypoxia of the brain, premature birth, birth trauma, haematoma in the brain, or the presence of certain maternal infections during pregnancy. Genetic susceptibility may also play a part. Known post-birth causes of spastic diplegia may include exposure to toxins, traumatic brain injury, encephalitis, meningitis, other brain infections, and drowning or suffocation.
Major treatments for spastic diplegia include:baclofen (and its derivatives), a gamma amino butyric acid substitute injected into the spine or administered via an intrathecal pump; phenol, injected selectively into the over-firing nerves in the legs to reduce spasticity in their corresponding muscles; botox, injected directly into the spastic muscles; orthopaedic surgery to release the spastic muscles from their hypertonic state (these results are usually temporary because of the source of the spasticity being in the nerves, not in the muscles); Rhizotomy, a neurosurgery directly targeting and eliminating (cutting) the over-firing nerve rootlets and leaving the properly-firing ones intact. The term "spastic" describes the attribute of spasticity in spastic cerebral palsy, but has since been used extensively as a general insult to disabled people and/or as an insult to able-bodied people when they seem overly anxious or unskilled in sports (spazz). In 1952 a UK charity called The Spastics Society was formed; the charity changed its name to Scope in 1994.
Spastic Diplegia This type of cp primarily affects the legs.Hemiplegia This is a form of cerebral palsy that affects one arm and leg on the same side of the body
Double Hemiplegia This is used to describe people who have a weakness in all four limbs, with more involvement on one side of the body than the other.Quadriplegiathis is a form of cp that affects all limbs.
Athetoid This type of CP is characterised by tremors, unsteadiness, lack of coordination, and constant movement. People with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy often have speech difficulties as well.Ataxicthis type of CP is the least common form of cerebral palsy. Ataxia means having a lack of balance. People with ataxic CP have a disturbed sense of balance and depth perception. They usually have low muscle tone, a staggering walk and unsteady hands.I have Spastic Diplegia, which means I have tight muscles and this can make it difficult at times to move about. I take muscle relaxants daily to help reduce the high tone allowing me to move a little easier. I walk with the help of a frame and I use a wheelchair.
Spastic diplegia refers to a type of cerebral palsy that is a neuromuscular condition of hypertonia and spasticity in the muscles of the lower extremities, usually those of the legs, hips and pelvis. It results from brain damage at birth that prevents proper development of the pyramidal tract, meaning that certain nerve receptors in the spine are in turn unable to properly absorb the gamma amino butyric acid which would otherwise properly regulate tone in the affected areas.
Without GABA, affected nerves perpetually fire the message for their corresponding muscles to contract and tighten up. Doctor William John Little's first recorded encounter with cerebral palsy is reported to have been among paediatric patients who displayed signs of spastic diplegia. Above the hips, persons with spastic diplegia typically retain normal or near-normal muscle tone and range of motion, though some lesser spasticity may also affect the upper body, such as the trunk and arms, depending on the severity of the condition in the individual; additionally, because the leg tightness often leads to instability in ambulation, some extra muscle tension usually develops in the upper body, shoulders, and arms regardless of the fact that the upper body is not directly affected by the condition. Spasticity in the legs is rarely so great as to totally prevent ambulation; i.e., most people with spastic diplegia can walk. However, spastic diplegia does result in the signature "scissor gait" that some able-bodied people might tend to confuse with the effects of drunkenness.Spastic diplegia typically results from damage to the motor cortex or corticospinal tract sustained before, during, or shortly after birth. This damage is usually caused by asphyxia, hypoxia of the brain, premature birth, birth trauma, haematoma in the brain, or the presence of certain maternal infections during pregnancy. Genetic susceptibility may also play a part. Known post-birth causes of spastic diplegia may include exposure to toxins, traumatic brain injury, encephalitis, meningitis, other brain infections, and drowning or suffocation.
Major treatments for spastic diplegia include:baclofen (and its derivatives), a gamma amino butyric acid substitute injected into the spine or administered via an intrathecal pump; phenol, injected selectively into the over-firing nerves in the legs to reduce spasticity in their corresponding muscles; botox, injected directly into the spastic muscles; orthopaedic surgery to release the spastic muscles from their hypertonic state (these results are usually temporary because of the source of the spasticity being in the nerves, not in the muscles); Rhizotomy, a neurosurgery directly targeting and eliminating (cutting) the over-firing nerve rootlets and leaving the properly-firing ones intact. The term "spastic" describes the attribute of spasticity in spastic cerebral palsy, but has since been used extensively as a general insult to disabled people and/or as an insult to able-bodied people when they seem overly anxious or unskilled in sports (spazz). In 1952 a UK charity called The Spastics Society was formed; the charity changed its name to Scope in 1994.
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