“Luke does little things every day that he did not do the day before. We’re happy and hopeful” – Luke’s Mom
At just 11 months old, Luke developed a blood clot on his spinal cord—a rare condition affecting roughly 30 kids in the entire world. Luke was paralyzed from the waist down and couldn’t breathe on his own. After years of hard work, intensive treatment, and lots of love from family and friends, Luke has made incredible progress in our Locomotor Training (LT) to improve his mobility is graduating from the program.
St. Mary’s is the only facility in the New York area with both the equipment and the trained professional staff able to offer this groundbreaking therapy to Luke and other kids with similar conditions! Luke continues to big make strides every day and is St. Mary’s Locomotor Program’s little superhero!
“Mommy, I think I think I’m going to dream about standing up tonight” -Luke
Above Luke is participating in Locomotor Training. This portion of the session focuses on assisting Luke to move his body in a typical walking pattern. While he is on the treadmill, the therapist holding his waist plays an integral role in maintaining his body in the appropriate position, while leg trainers are focused on cueing muscles in his legs at the right time to cue the nervous system to fire up specific muscles. All of the therapists are feeling for signs that Luke is participating in stepping so that once the treadmill is stopped they can engage Luke in activities that will help him harness any new mobility that he has. Big journeys start with little steps. Go Luke!
