Canada, 8 months

Before he was born, he had an unknown chronic condition that caused a lack of oxygen supply to his brain. Diagnosis: ischemic brain injury. A magnetic resonance done on July 15, 2005, showed "no sign of hemorrhage or stroke with hyperintense signals in both hemispheres at the grey/white junction and involvement of internal capsule and corpus callosum, consistent with generalized ischemic brain injury." Dylan's treatment began on march 30th, 2006.

Before the treatment

Dylan was overall very healthy, but for the damage to his brain. He did not need assistance for eating and had no trouble in swallowing. Sometimes a little bit of seizure activity, but it was kept under control by medicines.

The major thing that badly needed improvement was the tone in his arms and legs. Dylan's arms were very stiff and held closely to his body, and he also had trouble in opening his hands to play. His hands alternated tight fisting phases and periods of relax. Under effort the tone increased and he could not complete his task. This aspect was the most troublesome to his parents.

After the treatment

End of treatment: 4/26/2006. Dylan had less tone in his arms and started to reach out to grab things. You could stretch his arms over his shoulder and he would not complain. He became a much more active baby. He started to turn on his side by himself. Before the treatment, he would have stayed still in his stroller and his mother did not have to strap him. After the cure he started moving around a lot more and she had to, in order to ensure he did not fall out. When he returned home, her occupational therapist was “impressed”.

5/10/2006 - Email from Dylan's mother

"Dylan had a session with his therapist in his hometown. She was positive and was impressed with the degree of movement in his arms, and with their ability to reach his ears. She also commented that his hands were more relaxed and had more movement. She also made a comment that he was more floppy than before. This is probably related to decreased tone in his trunk and neck. This is a good thing, but Dylan will now have to be retrained on how to use his muscles to hold up his upper body instead of using his high tone to sit."

6/29/2006 - Email from Dylan's mother

"Dylan's doing great. He's doing some wonderful things that we all see as big improvements. He has now been holding a toy and waving it or shaking it. Before, when a toy was placed in his hand he would just drop it. Another thing is that he is 'playing' with toys. If we bring a soccer ball up to him, he will lift his arm and push it away with the top of his hand. He hadn't done any playing before so now this is really new stuff. He has also made a lot of improvements in his walking. If I hold up his arms in front of him (before treatment he couldn't even lift his arms or it would be really uncomfortable) he will make attempts to pick up his feet and move forward. He does better some days than others, but we are thrilled."