The following is my exact draft to the editor. It is unedited. Note- checkmarks in the text just indicate that the name is spelled correctly. Below that is the printed version.
BY CHRIS YOUNG
STAFF WRITER
PEMBROKE PARK- At a white mobile home with green trim, a little girl named Margot sits at a patio table, coloring with markers. She draws an orange house with a red roof and clouds around it. She wears a pink and orange T-shirt, blue pants, and red Nike sneakers.
Margot calls out in French to her mother, Emmanuelle√, that she needs to go to the bathroom. Emmanuelle pulls her to her feet with both hands and walks her inside. Though Margot is 8 years old, she walks unsteadily, like a toddler.
Even this is an accomplishment.
Margot Simon√ was born two and a half months premature. She has cerebral palsy, damage to her brain that limits the use of her limbs. Doctors in France told her parents she would never walk.
But they were determined. They found a doctor at the University of Miami School of Medicine√ whose special therapy helps Margot learn to use her muscles and limbs. The Simons come to see him twice a year, three weeks at a time.
The trips aren’t vacations. They cost one-third of the family’s income. Father Jean-Pierre√ is a mechanic and Emmanuelle is a hairdresser. They worked extra hours to come out. A French foundation created in her name and an international service organization, Richelieu International√, support the family emotionally and financially. Richelieu hosted picnics in Pembroke Park where the supporters met the family and held a fundraising auction.
This trip, the Simons stayed at a home belonging to the past president of Richelieu. They arrived three days before Hurricane Wilma struck, and spent the storm in a safer house. For the next week they had no power, which was hard because Margot is afraid of the dark.
Each morning they went to therapy for an hour, had lunch in the hospital cafeteria, then went home to do exercises to strengthen Margot’s muscles. Sometimes they went to a nearby pool where Margot can walk upright in the water.
At the end of the third week, Margot is tired. She writes a message on the back of her drawing of the house, but not in cursive because her muscle control isn’t fine enough yet.
Emmanuelle, 34, says she does well in school. They fought to keep her in a regular school, not a school for the disabled. She likes to play outside with friends, study French, and read books, but not Harry Potter because that scares her.
A WORK-OUT
One Monday, a typical session, the Simons entered the Brucker Biofeedback Laboratory√ at the Miami Jewish Home & Hospital at 10 a.m. Bernard Brucker√, a man with a thick beard and friendly demeanor, motioned Margot to sit in a chair.
An assistant attached two pairs of electrodes to her sides on the muscles. The electrodes went through a thick black cord to a grey box with the words, “neuroEDUCATOR II”on the front.
Margot looked at a large computer monitor with two graphs on it. The upper graph showed her brain activity going to a muscle on her right side, the lower graph of her left.
There was a jagged line across each graph, a target level. Brucker, who pioneered the technique 25 years ago, held her by the shoulders and said, “Lift up your left leg.”
Margot unsteadily lifted her left. A jagged line crept up the graph toward the target line.
“Get the green line up!” Brucker said encouragingly.
Margot kept looking at the screen and lifting her leg. The lines eventually climbed higher than the target, indicating that somewhere in her brain, motor neurons were forming more connections to her leg muscles, forcing them to work more.
The first two years, Dr. Brucker says, Margot couldn’t stand or even sit up straight in a chair; she would crumple over. When they stood her up and held her stationary, she cried because her mind told her she couldn’t do it, he says.
He gave Margot her two custom canes with multicolored designs on the shafts that her mother made and backed away.
“Walk toward me,” he said.
Margot extended one cane, then took a tentative step with the opposite foot. She put out the other cane and followed with the other foot. She walked towards Dr. Brucker, then her mother, then across the room to her father.
“Her foot used to cross over the other, but she has learned to keep them straight,” Brucker said. “Her foot still drags but she’s learning to raise the knee higher.”
Brucker took the canes away, then stood her up, holding her by the shoulders.
“We’re getting muscle control for standing,” he said. With a word of encouragement he let go of her shoulders. Margot stood for an instant, then began to fall forward like a pole.
He stopped her fall.
“She never had the opportunity to learn balance,” Brucker said.
To Margot, he asked, “Do you think you will walk without canes?”
“I think yes,” she said in French.
“[The therapy] is absolutely superb,” Emmanuelle says later. “Thank God we were able to meet Dr. Brucker.”
JUST BEING
Back at the house, Margot takes her father’s hand and walks down the block and back. She is proud that she can walk 600 meters at a time, albeit with the canes or her parents’ support.
“She doesn’t want to use her wheelchair,” Emmanuelle says. “She wants to be normal.”
The parents want more results. At first, Emmanuelle says, the goal was to get her out of the wheelchair. When she did that, the next objective was, “let’s see how far it can go.” If she eventually can walk, they want her to be able to run. Margot says she wants to ski one day.
The parents want Margot to undergo surgery next spring to change the angle of her hips in her pelvis, a procedure French doctors are recommending. Brucker strongly disagrees, saying his therapy plus regular physical therapy is better.
If they go ahead with the surgery, it will be a year before Margot returns to South Florida.
Michael Soucy√, the family’s host, says every time he sees Margot she has improved.
“She’s our little angel,” he says.
Margot finished her drawing of the house with the clouds.
“I like being like everybody else,” she says.
The Brucker Biofeedback Laboratory is at 305-762-3882.
Chris Young can be reached at ciyoung@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7916.
FINAL VERSION
French girl learns to walk, thanks to Miami doctors
By Chris Young
Staff Writer
Posted November 12 2005
| She needed to go to the bathroom. Her mother, Emmanuelle, hoisted her to her feet and, with both hands, walked her inside the house. Though Margot Simon is 8 years old, she walks unsteadily, like a toddler. Even this is an accomplishment. She was born 2 1/2 months premature and has cerebral palsy. Even at age four she couldn't stand or sit up straight in a chair; she would crumple over. Doctors in France told her parents she would never walk. But her parents found a doctor at the University of Miami School of Medicine with a special therapy. The Simons come twice a year, three weeks at a time, trips that swallow one-third of the family's income. Their most recent visit to South Florida ended Friday. Father Jean-Pierre, 38, is a mechanic, and Emmanuelle, 34, is a hairdresser. They worked extra hours to pay for the trip. A French foundation in Margot's name and an international service organization, Richelieu International, supported the family emotionally and financially. Michael Soucy, the family's host, said Margot improves every time he sees her. "She's our little angel," said Soucy, who let the Simons use a mobile home he owns in Dale Village. Each morning they went to therapy for an hour, had lunch in the hospital cafeteria, then exercised Margot's muscles at home. Emmanuelle said Margot does well in school. They fought to keep her in a regular school, not a school for disabled children. She likes to play outside with friends, study French and read books, but not Harry Potter because that scares her. During one recent therapy session, Bernard Brucker, head of the Brucker Biofeedback Laboratory at the Miami Jewish Home & Hospital, sat Margot in a chair. An assistant attached electrodes to her hips on the muscles, connected to a computer. Margot looked at the computer screen. "Lift up your left leg," Brucker said. Margot obeyed and a jagged green line appeared onscreen, inching toward a target level. "Get the green line up!" Brucker said encouragingly. Quickly the line shot above the target, indicating that in her brain, neurons were forming connections to her leg muscles. "Her foot used to cross over the other, but she has learned to keep them straight," Brucker said. "Her foot still drags, but she's learning to raise the knee higher." He asked Margot, "Do you think you will walk without canes?" "I think yes," she said in French. Back at the house, Margot finished her drawing of the house with the clouds. She took her father's hand and walked down the block and back. Emmanuelle watched from the patio. At first, she said, the goal was to get Margot out of the wheelchair. When she did that, the next objective was, "Let's see how far it can go." If she can eventually walk by herself, they want her to be able to run. The Brucker Biofeedback Laboratory is at 305-762-3882. Chris Young can be reached at ciyoung@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7916. |
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