May is Pediatric Stroke Awareness Month and the CHASA leaders would like to share some of our favorite organizations with you. These are folks who are doing some awesome work to help kids with hemiplegia, pediatric stroke, or different disabilities in general. Strong as Steel Adaptive Sports - Western Pennsylvania Darla Clayton's son, Trent, has survived many hemorrhagic strokes in his young life and has right hemiplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He has always been a natural runner; running has seemed to come more easily to him than walking! When Trent tried other sports, soccer, baseball, etc., he excelled at the running parts but wasn’t a huge fan of the other sporting activities. In the Spring of 2011, Darla and her husband decided to look into a running program for Trent. There was no adaptive track and field program in their area, but Trent wanted to run. Trent's family had some great support from other families they met through the Children's Hemiplegia and … [Read more...]
Basketball Manager Thomas Adams
Thomas and his parents attended the very first Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association Family Retreat in Georgia in 2001. He was a fun loving little boy and had turned into a young man with a love of basketball. Thomas is also a stroke survivor, having had a stroke when he was a baby. This left him with limited use of his right arm and hand. For the past four years, Thomas has served as team manager for the Bridgman High School boys basketball team. Thomas is a senior at Bridgman this year and has enjoyed not only managing the team, but also playing in a couple fo games. Read more about Thomas' experiences with the team. … [Read more...]
Pediatric Stroke and Silver in the FSKA World Championships
Kaidhyn has hemiplegic cerebral palsy, but that diagnosis didn't stop him from bringing home a chest full of medals form the FSKA (Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association) World Championships held in Denver this past weekend. Kaidhyn wasn't alone at this competition. States represented included NY, HI, NM, CO, NV, KY, CA, and Kansas. Countries represented were Kazakhstan, Russia, Parfenov, S. Africa, Ukraine, Argentina, Israel, Kurobane, Brazil, England, Puerto Rico, Macedonia, and Germany. Kaidhyn finished 4th in the Kata division against 9 typical* opponents. He earned the Gold Medal in the Challenger Division which he was eligible to compete in because of his diagnosis of hemiplegia. He earned the Silver Medal in Kumite (fighting) where he knocked out (literally and physically) the "Number 1 kid" from South Africa in order to make it to the Gold Medal round. He then lost the Gold by half a point to his training partner from his Dojo. Kaidhyn's parents observed that being a … [Read more...]
Kaidhyn has Hemiplegia and is Competing in the FSKA Karate World Championship
Seven year old Kaidhyn Stockdale will represent the city of Owensboro, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the United States of America at the 2012 Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association (FSKA) World Karate Championships in Denver, Colorado this weekend. Kaidhyn is a competitive participant in this event and has never let his diagnosis of hemiplegia (weakness on one side of the body) keep him from participating fully in both karate and in life. Kaidhyn’s selection to participate in the 2012 FSKA World Karate Championships was based on several factors including: athletic ability, academic standing and leadership skills. Since this is a World championship tournament Kaidhyn will also have the opportunity to interact with other karate students his own age from around the world. Kaidhyn and his family have been members of the The Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association family since Kaidhyn was less than one year old. He attended the CHASA Family Retreat with his grandmother when … [Read more...]
Strong as Steel Adaptive Sports
My son Trent, who has survived many hemorrhagic strokes in his young life, has right hemiplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He has always been a natural runner, running has seemed to come more easily to him than walking! When he tried other sports, soccer, baseball etc. he excelled at the running parts but wasn’t a huge fan of the other stuff. In the Spring of 2011, my husband and I decided to start looking into a running program for him. There was no adaptive track and field program in our area but he wanted to run and we had some great support from other families who had gone before through CHASA. We got some great information, about how to qualify and register for the National Junior Disability Championships from them. He qualified for NJDC and attending NJDC was a wonderful experience for him and our entire family! He came home feeling fantastic about himself and also asking excellent questions like “why don’t we have a team in Pittsburgh” and “I bet there … [Read more...]
Following His Dream
Danny's Family Danny is 15 years old and a freshman in High School. As the middle of three brothers, Danny was determined early on, to make sports a part of his life. He began organized athletics at the age of 5, playing on a local T-ball team. That led to soccer, basketball, bowling and even tackle football. Danny plays all sports completely one-handed as the stroke left his arm and hand paralyzed. In 7th and 8th grades, Danny played football, basketball, and ran track for his school. As a freshman, Danny decided to switch from football to tennis and played for his High School JV team. Danny played 3rd doubles and only lost one match during the regular season. He and his partner went on to win a silver medal in the county tournament this year. Danny is working hard and hopes to make the Varsity squad as a sophomore. We are currently in the largest High School in our state. Danny is currently playing basketball at the club level and will begin … [Read more...]
Thunder in the Valley Games Michigan
Adaptive Sports Season is in full swing. This is for adults and Juniors, age 7 and up. Thunder in the Valley Games are scheduled for May 31st - June 3rd, 2012 at Saginaw Valley State U and are hosted by Michigan Sports Unlimited. This is a sanctioned event for WASUSA. Events include: Track & Field, Air Rifle, Archery, Swimming, Power Lifting, Handcycling and Table Tennis. There are also clinics held for these sports. This is a regional event that can allow kids to either just learn and participate or try to qualify for the National Junior Disability Games. Thanks to Christine McNish for providing this information! … [Read more...]
Cerebral Palsy Doesn’t Slow Down Nathan
A True Winner! Nathan and his twin Jacob were born 4th of July 2002 at 29 weeks. Shortly after birth Nathan suffered a Grade IV brain hemorrhage. As a result he has left hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Nathan is currently in the 3rd grade and doing very well. I want to share his story of hope as it has not always been so easy and there were many days when we wondered how Nathan would do as he grew older. Nathan has been competing in the Empire State Games for the Physically Challenged the past three years. His first year he took home 7 gold medals – a medal in each event he entered. The second year he earned 8 gold and again this year 8 gold medals for Nathan! This year he won gold medals in the 40M, 60M, 100M dash, distance kick, soft toss, precision throw, and bowling. Nathan also has been taking Karate for the past 2 1/2 years and was promoted to rank of blue belt in September. He recently competed in a tournament for Karate with typically developing children and did an … [Read more...]
